Reality Bites Worm
by Selector
Summary: So what would happen if things went slightly differently?
1. Chapter 1

Reality Bites Worm

Taylor Hebert watched the tree's and green lawns slide by the bus window. She sighed watching the cemetery go past. Six months since her mother had died in a traffic accident in a late march rainstorm. Shouldn't the world still be gray? Shouldn't the summer not have been warm and beautiful as her world fell apart and her dad retreated into a shell of himself?

She had visited her mother's grave regularly. Watched the earth settle, the sod be laid over it, like a green blanket, and the summer go by so beautifully. So alone.

Well since the start of the summer. She had gone to a two-week nature camp they had had booked for a year. She might as well right? Dad was a shell; the house was achingly quiet. It had been fun actually, the camp, it had helped her.

When she had come back, Emma, Emma Barnes, her BFF wasn't. They had met in first grade and alternated living at each other's house's. Gone to middle school together, done everything together. Then, just like a snap of the fingers, Taylor was alone. Emma had a new friend in two weeks. A friend who obviously didn't want Taylor around. Sophia Hess.

Taylor shook her head. It had made the school decision easy. She had taken the test for the scholarship to Arcadia, the best high school in town, because mom would have wanted her too. Not like they couldn't afford it. Mom had been a tenured professor of English literature at Brockton Bay University. Where did people think those tuitions went? Certainly not into the buildings. That's what the endowments were for. Just ask the Anders, all of them had a building on campus named after them. As did the Stanford's the Christner's. All of the families that lived over in the snooty parts of town.

So, they had moms savings and her life insurance payout and the accidental death rider bumped that. On that alone they wouldn't be poor. Not rich, but not poor. Plus she would get free tuition to BBU.

Dad was the second in charge of the Dock Workers Union and, since the president of the Union was in Florida, and had been for a year, he was really in charge of it. They both made good money and mom had been insured to the hilt. Dad had been a ball of rage and had gone after the other driver, the one that T-boned mom in the rain, like Leviathan went after Newfoundland back in '05. With about the same result, he sank the drunk bastard, snooty name and all. Mom being on the phone was apparently no reason to quibble. Just reason enough for dad to hate cell phones with a burning passion. They were comfortably middle class. Grandpa paying the house off hadn't hurt anything either. Plus dad had old Abe screaming. They werbnt shopping at whole foods or any of that other rich people crap and dad drove a paid off pickup.

She had to use her allowance from the trust fund that settlement went into to buy a pay as you go smart phone. Got cash? We don't got no questions, here you go miss. Hook your debit card to this account and there you are.

So now she was a loose end in Arcadia. At least she could throw herself into school. And she didn't have to see Emma and Sophia unless she wanted to. Emma wasn't smart enough to get a place in Arcadia and Sophia? Please. Every other word out of thuggette's mouth was an F bomb.

Taylor sighed looking out the window as the houses turned over to older houses rather than McMansions. So first day of the rest of her life, or the next four years, down. Fourteen hundred and fifty-nine days to figure out how to go on from here. It was criminal the sky was a bright cloudless blue and the birds happily singing their hearts out like a fucking Disney movie when she was dead inside and her life ruined.

Taylor stepped down from the bus and started toward her house. Sophia Hess stepped from behind an ancient sugar maple street tree. "You need to leave Emma alone."

Taylor looked at her and snorted "I haven't talked to her in more than a month."

"Give me your phone." Sophia demanded.

Taylor pulled it out of her pocket, pushed the panic button, and said "I'd like to report a robbery. Corner of Elm and Ocean."

Sophia gaped at her a moment then stepped into her and tried to take the phone. Taylor would never know why but at that moment everything boiled up, then over and the exercise and self-defense she had been doing to keep herself busy kicked in. She dropped the phone, stepped into Sophia, gave her three body shots and an elbow to the side of the head as she stepped past her. Taylor gritted her teeth at the pain in the elbow and turned her forward momentum into a turn and lifted knee catching Sophia in the face as she bent over. Sophia flipped backward onto the sidewalk and Taylor put the boot in, wondering who was screaming and cursing.

Suddenly she was disoriented, having a hallucination, and staggered away trying to stay upright. She picked up her phone and looked down at Sophia. Unconscious on the pavement. She leaned over and checked the girl's airway, turned her onto her side, and sat on the knee high, cracked and lifted low brick wall in front of the yard behind her.

Unrealized by Taylor, her phone was still connected to the emergency services and the operator had been listening and recording. A police car screeched to a halt and the officer leapt out like it was an action movie. It was pretty cool. He was also pretty buff, and handsome. Black but obviously not like Sophia, not a hood. He ran to Taylor, cuffed Sophia and searched her on the way by and was trying to get Taylor to respond. A second police car skidded to a halt, a white officer did the leap out thing and people stepped from houses.

It was a slow news day and early in the afternoon so three different mobile news teams, one from each major network arrived. Brockton Bay being what it was, a hotbed of parahuman activity, two cable network news vans pulled up and camera and sound men got kitted up and working nearly as fast as the police. Reporters and producers started trying to figure out what was going on.

The cops, not liking this, called for an ambulance for Sophia and to check Taylor and a police sergeant showed up.

Taylor, still pretty out of it from whatever that weird hallucination was, was laid out on the grass behind the wall and treated for shock. The mom from the house she was in front of took her over and went a bit momma bear. There was some haranguing of the police about the neighborhood filling with these hoodlums and now a poor girl walking home from her school bus being attacked. The news people had their angle.

The cops searched Sophia as part of their normal procedure and recovered two phones. A detective showed up and took charge of that and everything else they found on her. The ambulance crew packaged Sophia and left with her to the hospital after some photos and a chalk outline had been drawn around her, as another crew that had arrived checked Taylor and decided she should go in for observation. The girl wasn't very responsive and the homeowner said she was just a normal neighborhood girl and she had never noticed anything different about her.

The police, after some nearly incoherent conversation with Taylor, decided she had defended herself from a bold, broad, daylight robbery attempt. Her father was called, and after some discussion about her being physically unharmed, he authorized her transport to the hospital for a check.

The system perked along as it was designed to. Make the victim safe, arrest the perpetrator, and gather evidence. The media had what it wanted, a gangly young teenager bravely fighting off a hood rat. The world spun on in its normal eccentric, off axis way. None of which mattered to Taylor as she was desperately trying to understand what the hell the buzzing in her ears was.

RBW

In a couple of different offices in the city lawyers got calls, Alan Barnes, as he was the attorney of record for Sophia Hess, and Thy Bui, the lawyer Danny had found to sue the crap out of everyone from the driver of the other car to the city for improper maintenance and street design. Thy had been fresh off her bar exam and aggressive as a baby shark in the womb. The most aggressive lawyer Alan Barnes, a friend of the Hebert's, knew.

You would never know it to look at her. She was a petite, smiling, seemingly happy, young woman. Plus, she lit up Alan, being hot as a fresh fucked fox in a forest fire. Absolutely gorgeous, perfectly proportioned. Danny hadn't really cared about that, being recently widowed, he just wanted the aggression. He got it in spades. Thy had gotten wealthy as had the Hebert's, or Taylor rather, as she poured it on trying to build her reputation in a case that had a lot of possibility, rich, drunk, asshole, with a record of DUI's, kills respected college professor with a teenage daughter and a Union man husband. The system ate that up with a spoon too.

Thy, for her part, liked Taylor and Danny. Where she fed her rage at the system and used it from the inside Danny was a towering inferno. Taylor was gangly, awkward, goofy, adorable really when she wasn't crushed by grief. Thy had kept in touch. Taylor had an estate to be managed after all. Danny put all the money they had gotten from insurance and companies desperate to avoid court into a trust for Taylor. A year out was plenty for a man with a good job and a great daughter to get through the grieving process, or most of it, and that was coming up.

Thy got to the hospital about the same time as Danny. She blinked as he hugged her. Then they both found Taylor looking lost and a bit out of it on a bed in the emergency department. A female detective was there and after Thy had greeted Taylor and given her a hug she took Thy aside "We thought this was just a robbery but it's looking more and more like some kind of parahuman master event. Taylor has apparently been bullied by this girl Sophia Hess, she apparently has a former friend of Taylors, Emma Barnes, in her thrall."

Thy frowned looking at the detective. She was of the right age to have been just in the force when Lustrum was around, probably why she went there. Parahumans were a fact of life and the issues with them were difficult "Anything to back this up?"

The detective shrugged "The perps name tripped a PRT alert. An older one but it was still in the system. Hess was apparently suspected of being a parahuman vigilante a few months back. We took a PRT phone into evidence."

"So, what? She went from vigilante to master, to bully then to thief, and is working for the PRT?" Thy arched a perfect brow.

The detective shrugged "And she couldn't master your client counselor. Taylor kicked the crap out of Hess, a hood rat if nothing else. Not the normal course of events when skinny young female teens are attacked by hoods."

"My client is not a parahuman." Thy responded quickly.

The detective nodded "Or she wasn't. She is the right age and sex. Had a significant long term emotional event then this shock. She fits the profile. I'd keep an eye on her. We already have Hess under parahuman confinement protocols. The PRT is coming to talk to us about her."

Thy nodded and mentally added the PRT and Protectorate to list of people and organizations on her menu for this go around.

"Taylor!" Thy turned around and saw Panacea holding Taylor "What happened?" Thy stepped closer, as did the police detective, at Panacea's question.

Taylor smiled wanly "Sophia Hess, again Amy."

Panacea took Taylors hand "Again?"

"I told you about, well, everything, remember? Sophia and Emma bullying me, all of that? The reason I was so glad to get to Arcadia to get away from them? Everywhere I went over the summer they were there and couldn't leave me alone." The detective looked at Thy and arched a brow. Taylor continued "Well after school I rode home on the bus. I was a little blue and not paying enough attention. Sergeant Henley is going to be pissed. Anyway, Sophia just came out of the blue and started telling me to stop talking to Emma and then tried to take my phone. I kind of snapped when she tried to grab it and got physical." Taylor blushed a bit. "I kind of beat her up a little."

Amy, Amy Dallon, Panacea of new Wave smiled "So you went all Glory Girl then."

Taylor rolled her eyes "Vicky isn't that bad."

Amy snorted "For a linebacker. OK you are fine." Amy thought 'besides being a brand-new trigger but I need all these folks gone to talk to you about that' "Did she get your phone?"

Taylor held it up "Nope!"

Danny Hebert scowled "Another instance of those things causing problems."

Taylor sighed. This was an old argument. Amy cut in "So do I need to go see Hess?"

The detective shook her head "Concussion, mild one. Elbow to the temple. Taylor did good, now we know why. Leslie Henley is no joke, former Marine LINE system instructor and mixed martial arts fighter. She will be happy to see another example of her training working."

Thy smiled "I didn't know you had gotten so far Taylor. We will have to spar."

Taylor smiled brightly "It really helped. It was good for my focus and discipline too. Thanks for recommending it." Amy arched a brow. Taylor shrugged "Thy recommended martial arts. I was a little depressed after, well, you know, then Emma turned into a see you next Tuesday and well, I got pretty into it. I spent most of the summer in the gym. Or it seemed like it."

Danny nodded "Glad that paid off, you are still too skinny though."

"Dad!"

Amy chuckled "See your dad agrees with me. We will get you fed up yet."

Taylor poked her tongue out at her "And you too. Hey you should come to the gym with me!"

Amy backpedaled as the adults chuckled. Thy tossed in "It helps. Gets you focused and your mind off what is bothering you."

The detective added "Yeah, you either concentrate or get a face full of mat. Probably a good idea for you to get some training Panacea. Not the best people in the city and not their best day when they end up here."

Amy went for the distraction "Enough about me. Taylor, you are healthy as a horse. If someone wants to find a doctor we can get you home." The adults stepped back looking around and Amy leaned in close "You triggered Taylor. We will talk about it tomorrow."

Taylor blinked "Is that what this buzzing in my head is?"

Amy shrugged "Might be related. Just watch out for anything unusual and call me if there is a problem."

While Danny and Thy looked for a doctor the detective stepped away to where the uniforms were standing around a trauma bay. Just as she got there Armsmaster walked up. She rolled her eyes "So, that's as subtle as a brick through the windshield."

Armsmaster grimaced and put a set of tinker made restraints on Sophia Hess "Detective Thorpe, what happened?"

"Your girl tried to assault, perhaps rob the wrong individual, got her ass handed to her. Assault and battery, attempted robbery for now. I assume she is going to disappear into the PRT?" Kendra Thorpe arched a brow.

Thy had walked up "I believe that depends on the prosecutor releasing jurisdiction to the PRT and Protectorate."

Armsmaster's mouth turned down. In his armor and helmet with its mirrored faceplate that was all you could see "Normally jurisdiction is released to the PRT."

Thy smiled "In cases of Parahumans using their abilities against normal humans yes. Is that what you are saying happened here?"

Armsmaster replied "Or in cases where the parahuman requires special measures for confinement."

Kendra nodded "I thought so. Those cuffs will hold her?"

Armsmaster nodded "What is her condition?"

"She'll be going to the secure wing here for observation. Mild concussion, some bruises and abrasions. The person she attacked took her down with an elbow and knee strike. Guess she got overconfident." Kendra replied.

Armsmaster decided to cut his losses. "The cuffs will hold her and not interfere with medical devices. I'll send this through channels." He turned around and walked off.

Thy snorted "Dick. That's my cue Kendra. Got to make some calls. Be safe out there."

Kendra smiled and nodded "You too."

Thy met up with Danny, Taylor, and Amy on the way out "Fugly Bob's!" Taylor supplied.

Thy laughed "Well there goes that skinny problem. I'll come meet you there if you don't mind. I need to talk to your dad about where we go from here."


	2. Chapter 2

Reality Bites Worm

Emily Piggot, Director of the PRT Brockton Bay looked at the people around her conference table. Deputy Director Renick, PRT legal services chief Henry Recford, Protectorate East North East, Brockton Bay, Leader Armsmaster, Wards leader Triumph and Protectorate second Miss Militia. "So, Shadow Stalker attacked a girl." She looked at Armsmaster.

"I was against having her in the wards to begin with. I have not changed my position. I had only agreed with the condition that she receive therapy. She has not." Armsmaster was happy to toss back in Director Pigott's teeth. Emily Piggot was a forceful, determined woman who didn't care for parahumans, and didn't particularly care who knew it.

Emily nodded "So you would rather have another villain out there then."

Armsmaster looked at her "Without the appropriate resources to provide these people with the appropriate training and counseling I would rather arrest and imprison the ones that are killers, or only miss becoming killers by accident. Brockton Bay is a bad place for wards. For some reason it is the very top of the per capita rankings of Parahumans triggering. Due to the hardline stance of the PRT, the three gangs, and the bad economic conditions we have barely enough resources to keep the gangs in check, much less devote the time and attention necessary to the wards. I think they should be moved to either Boston or New York until we are properly resourced."

"The wards program definitely should not be used to hold young parahumans where you can keep your eye on them. Some kind of work release prison program."

Henry cut in, he had other things to do rather than listening to this argument again "This is perhaps a misunderstanding between teenage girls. I'll get the police reports and see what is to be done."

Deputy Director Renick nodded "As is procedure. Thy Bui is the counsel for the victim. Be careful. She will be happy to add to her reputation on our backs."

Emily took a moment to get herself back under control. Armsmaster was less and less cooperative with her and more and more hostile to the PRT officers under her. Of course, the rank and file loved him. Miss Militia saw her point of view however, so there was potentially light at the end of that tunnel.

RBW

Sophia Hess was furious. She hadn't even done anything and that bitch Hebert had attacked her. Nobody got to attack her and get away with it!

RBW

Taylor lay awake for a while then drifted off, and dreamed she was a spider. It wasn't a nightmare just a dream. It was strange. The next morning, she got up and ran, using the opportunity to think through everything that had happened and put it all in perspective. She had gotten on the PHO, Parahumans online, last night and done some research before just reading the boards for a while. She was trying to figure out what her power was.

She ran through a swarm of mosquitos and frowned at them. They all pulled away from her. She blinked, usually the little bastards used her for breakfast. Her mind immediately went to how to modify a mosquito to be useful. She shook her head, what the hell was she thinking? Now tree's, like that maple, they could be made useful. If you made the cells line up the right way when you took the bark of it could be made to fall into lumber. Dog, oh! Don't lick that! Oh it itches. OK, go ahead. Gross though. No thumbs I got it.

Taylor's body finished the run and her shower. She got dressed, gathered her things for school, and ate her breakfast with a notebook and pen in one hand and her phone in the other burning up the internet. Her dad shooed her to the bus stop shaking his head. Sergeant Henley was going to kick her ass for sure if she heard about this. He watched her go, then drove by the bus stop on his way to work just as she got on the bus. He hoped she remembered to get off of it at Arcadia.

Amy found Taylor scribbling furiously in a notebook at one of the cement tables in the center of the south wings and looked at what she was doing. She blinked. Then blanched. "Taylor! You're a bio tinker!"

"A what? Oh tinker. Hmmm, yeah maybe. Master too I think. I made the mosquitos leave me alone." Taylor said absently, still making notes.

Amy gaped at her then snorted "Mosquito master. OK fine. You have to keep this Bio tinkering quiet though. The other known one is Nilbog, Bonesaw too, and well, me, but nobody knows that. I am a Biokinetic they think. Oh, Blasto too."

Taylor looked up at her "So the healing thing is because of villains? You don't want to be like them?"

Amy frowned "Well it's not like I could be a front-line hero. Tarred with the same brush though, yes."

Taylor nodded, then shook her head. She asked, "So how does your power work?"

Vicky Dallon watched her sister Amy talking to one of the girls while she talked to Dean Stansfield, Gallant of the wards, her on again boyfriend. They had been doing the on-off thing since middle school. "We have to get her a boyfriend."

Dean rolled his eyes "Or we could you know, let her alone."

Vicky nodded and shook her head. Dean sighed. She giggled.

Taylor and Amy got closer through the day. They had met yesterday morning. Others watched as the two became the center of a tight group of the smartest girls in the freshman class. Vicky of course was already building the normal clique. Mostly as they had gone to the same grade and middle school, a few new girls were orbiting her though.

RBW

At Winslow Emma was a bit nervous so a bit meaner than normal. Sophia wasn't there. She worked everything she knew how to work to build her group though. High school waited for no one.

RBW

Alan Barnes looked at the charges against Sophia and sighed. He would have to work his contacts hard to keep her out of juvenile detention. She was already on probation.

RBW

Thy looked at the charges and police report and got her ducks in a row. She knew the prosecutor in this case and had already applied pressure for it to be left in the civilian courts rather than disappearing into closed trial run by the PRT.

RBW

Taylor tagged along with Amy and held her hand on a patient as she healed them. She also noticed Amy didn't get paid. "Amy why don't you get paid?"

Amy blinked "Well, uh, I'm a hero?"

"Yeah, bullshit. Doctors get paid, nurses, hospitals, drug companies, pharmacist all that. Policemen, firemen, Soldiers, all of them get paid and they are heroes too." Taylor said.

The elderly man they were working on, or rather Amy was working on while Taylor followed along, nodded "Hero or not you should get paid for your work. Regular work. If you want to donate your time and effort in an emergency that's one thing, but patching up folk's regular? You should get paid."

Taylor nodded "The Union has all kinds of labor lawyers. We can get them to look into it. Or Thy."

The elderly man said "I have some experience in the area. I'm retired now but I used to be the administrator of this hospital. I can help you set it up if you want. Probably no one has mentioned it because of the paperwork involved. You would need to hire a staff and get certified by Medicare."

Amy shrugged "Medicare already did that. I had doctors following me around for two weeks last year."

"Charles Daughton. That will make this easier then. I wonder if they have a code for you?"

RBW

Sophia Hess sat in Director Piggot's office seething. Emily looked at the girl "Armsmaster may be correct. The best thing might in fact be to let you serve out your sentence in addition to whatever you get for this latest stupidity in juvenile detention. It's a bit hard for me to do that and save face though, as I forced him to take you into the wards.

"That being the case, let me make one thing perfectly clear to you, if you do something like this again you will be in juvenile detention when you wake up. If in the course of your duties you manage to kill someone and it is not a matter of clear cut self-defense or defense of someone else you will be in the birdcage.

"In addition to your issue phone, which you have managed to conveniently forget on several occasions, you will now wear a tracker. I don't care how much it hurts.

"Whatever the results of the upcoming charges and litigation you will accept them and deal with it or you will be in juvenile detention until you are eighteen. Continued behavior along these same lines will have the same effect. Do you understand?"

Sophia glared at her "So some parahuman can just beat me up and its fine?"

Emily barked a laugh "Fucking capes. Taylor Hebert was a perfectly normal girl until yesterday. So, unless she triggered as a result of your actions yesterday then you got your ass beat by a perfectly normal girl. A girl who has trained for four months with a good instructor in hand to hand combat. About the same amount of time PRT troops train and the same type of instruction.

"In other words, you got owned. And your abilities didn't help you. Now you are four months behind a dedicated student with a world class instructor. I would advise you to leave her alone. She might do you actual harm next time and going to juvenile detention with medical issues will not be in your best interest. It will be difficult to fight off some bitch with a broom handle and dream with both arms in cast." Emily looked at Sophia.

Sophia nodded tightly "Fine. Are we done."

Emily nodded "For your sake I hope so."

RBW

Amy looked at Taylor from her back on the mat "Ouch."

Taylor laughed "My butt hurt for two weeks. At least you got some padding on yours."

"Did you just say I have a big butt?" Amy arched a brow.

"Guys are right, there is no safe way to answer that." Taylor offered her hand.

Vicky smiled "My turn!"

Taylor smiled and pulled her into a hip throw as soon as she had let go of Amy. Vicky floated rather than hitting the floor. Leslie Henley (Staff Sergeant, retired, USMC) frowned and slipped a grey metal bracelet around her wrist. Vicky squawked as she slammed into the floor, Leslie laughed "Power canceling handcuff. Got it from my last job. Tinker tech so don't run off with it. I use them for students whose powers are instinctive. Use it when you exercise too. We'll cover power training in a few months. I need to find a place for that."

Vicky got up rubbing her butt "That wasn't nice."

Leslie shrugged "You aren't paying me to be nice. Alright let's go again. This isn't a beauty pageant."

Amy grabbed Taylor and tried to throw her and ended up flying through the air instead. When she hit the mats, Leslie nodded "Better, another couple of weeks and you will be able to take a fall." Amy rolled over and groaned.

Taylor looked at Leslie "You should talk to my dad. They have all kinds of warehouses down by the dockyards."

Vicky looked at the cuff "We need to get Laserdream in here. Photon Mom jr. needs some humbling."

Amy snickered "You've thought that since her boobs got bigger than yours."

"Work ladies." Leslie called.

Later, in the shower, the Dallon sisters creaking around like they were a hundred years old, and Taylor laughing, Taylor worked on relieving some of their aches and pains and Amy checked Taylor. Taylor sighed in relief. "Well that will make this easier."

The other two nodded. Amy said, "Come on, clothes and then we need to work on your powers."

Taylor sighed, she hadn't quite figured out the mechanism of making her powers do all that she knew they could. Apparently Bonesaw could do surgery with a fingernail and Amy just made tissue and systems do what she wanted, but Taylors was having a bit of trouble. Vicky was fascinated with her ability to make insects do what she wanted. She had had powers for twenty-four hours now and was already being jerked around by them.

RBW

Lisa Wilbourn, Sarah, or used to be Sarah Livsey, looked around her apartment in the Towers. She sighed and eased down into the armchair massaging her temples. She had a massive headache and it was that skinny freshman's fault. How was a thinker supposed to concentrate with that running around! Every time she looked at her she saw something else her powers, or Panacea's, could do.

She had gone to Arcadia to get next to the money crowd. Fucking super powered grab bag capes weren't in the plan.

Was it worth maintaining a cover? She growled as her power asked her how much she liked Nazi or Asian cock. She knew thinkers were hot commodities. The easy way to make her work for them didn't need a thinker to see it. Pimps worked on the same principle.

Hey, wait a minute, there was an Alexandria package, a healer and a bio tinker master who would get better and better. That was a diamond hard nucleus of a small team. Plus, New Wave. Now, how to get the girls away from New Wave?"

RBW

Rachel Lindt lay down with her dog Brutus. She would look this place over tomorrow. It had been dark when they got to town on the back of that truck. For now they had a place out of the wind and the rain and that was good enough.

RBW

Missy looked at Sophia "That's what you get for being a cunt. You should be in the birdcage. All you do is cause trouble for the rest of us."

Rory, Triumph, pinched the bridge of his nose. Two more weeks and he graduated to the Protectorate. Come on eighteen.

Carlos looked on a bit bewildered. Missy had grown more and more distrustful and mean to Sophia. A lot of what she said was true though, and it wasn't like Sophia wasn't a bitch to her first. Plus, Missy had been here when they all got here. She really should be the wards leader. It was ageist at best.


	3. Chapter 3

Reality Bites Worm

1.1

Taylor got up, trotted downstairs and out the back door. Danny listened and smiled. So, normal service restored.

Taylor stood in the back yard and Vicky came in for a landing carrying Amy. As soon as she landed and put Amy down Taylor slipped the cuff on her. She groaned. "Come on you big baby." The Dallon sisters were in sweats which they peeled out of as they stretched and did partner resisted exercises, then Taylor led them on a run. She got about half again her mileage in doubling back to pick them up for the turns and giving them boost to get them through it. She also got a lot of humor out of it. The Dallon sisters were skinny fat.

"I'm dying." Amy said coming through the gate in the fence around the back yard. Vicky couldn't even talk.

"Stretch out, then showers." Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Slave driver." Vicky managed from the ground where she was approximating something resembling a stretch.

Danny chuckled looking out the back window and added a few more strips of bacon to the pan. He already had a pile of pancakes in the oven. Good thing the house had a hot water coil in the boiler and they were on city gas. Gas was cheap with all that fracking nowadays. Oil not so much, Leviathan liked slicing up oil tankers. Ships in general really. The Navy fought him off with nuclear torpedoes and depth charges a few times when he first appeared which had made him leave them alone. Anything else on the water was fair game though. Interesting the bastard could tell the difference. The Navy had even managed to protect the convoys bringing equipment back from Europe when the Army drew down.

RBW

Lisa sat at the table with the freshmen. The other sophomores would talk but she could give a fuck. She was faking the whole school thing anyway as she already had a GED as Sarah. This bullshit with the thinker headaches had to end. "Lisa Wilbourn. Thinker. We should start a team."

Taylor glared at her "Good thing no one else is here yet. What the hell was that? Why are you outing yourself?"

Lisa looked at her "Because my power is knowing everything and Amy has already taught you to identify parahumans by touch. Your animals will tell you who everyone is by smell. Amy knows after she touches them and Vicky won't tell."

Amy blinked "So not teenage girl knows everything, really does know everything."

Lisa smiled "Little hints, sometimes a word and bam, off it goes."

Taylor frowned "How do we get Amy paid then?"

Lisa smiled "Oh, a good test!"

RBW

After they stopped by the hospital, and Lisa impressed the hell out of Charles and even found some better ways and shortcuts in his plan, Taylor nodded "Fine then. But you have to exercise and train with us as well."

"Uh thinker, you know, in the office." Lisa replied.

Taylor nodded "Seven dollars an hour then."

Lisa sighed. "Ok fine but we need more fire power. I think we can get Vista from the wards and we can get Hellhound. But we need a lawyer for her.

Taylor rubbed her hands together and cackled. The other girls spread out away from her as they walked out of the hospital.

RBW

Thy got off the phone and smiled. Hellhound was the result a bad trigger and malfeasance. She loved Taylor Hebert. She knew the most interesting people! This should be a hundred grand at least. Settlement on contingency and it would probably only take her about ten billable hours! If Danny Hebert wasn't so interesting and hadn't made a powered daughter already she might have to give Alan Barnes a ride as a reward. Oh! The state too! Three hundred grand! Twenty-five hundred for an investigator and she might make it five hundred K. Ten percent of the settlement as her fee would make the world beat a path to her door. Fuck the Bar association guidelines. A hundred hours a week meant ten clients a week and if they were all like this she could retire and raise babies in a year or two. Hmmm, maybe start a serious firm rather than just a private practice. There were some others in her year group that had the right attitude. Oh! The DWU ran a daycare and had office space for lease.

RBW

Lisa looked at the bus as it left the stop then she turned in a complete circle. The other girls looked around. Taylor started pulling up every biting insect she could find. Vicky brushed off her butt. Amy chuckled "Teach you to wear longer skirts."

"Or we can get a car. Lisa can get a license." Vicky sort of begged.

Lisa nodded "Soon, this way." She led off.

She led them to what had to be a railroad engine shed right on the edge of the railyard. They walked in an open door and the others looked at Taylor. Taylor gave them all a glare "Rachel. Come on, let's go home." She called out.

Rachel, for her part, lay where she was with Brutus for a minute then stood up and walked forward "Bitch."

Taylor sighed "OK, we will call you Bitch but my dad isn't going to. At least not at first, maybe never. Taylor Hebert, Lisa Wilbourn, Amy and Vicky Dallon. Is that your only dog for now?"

Rachel nodded "Brutus."

"Fine let's go catch the bus. We will call the lawyer and she will have to come ask you some questions. Then we can get started clearing up your legal problems. We are building a superhero team."

Rachel shrugged. She could always run. Meanwhile Brutus had sniffed all three girls and was happy.

Lisa nodded "We will need to stop at a store and get Brutus some food and some of that flea and tick stuff. Oh, some flea shampoo too. He needs a bath."

Taylor patted the dog on the head and dug a finger down to bare skin. "Great job Bitch. Brutus is in great shape." She got the fleas and ticks under control and got them to abandon ship, not onto any of the girls. "I got the fleas and ticks. He doesn't have worms."

Amy took Rachels hand "You not so much. Come on, we need to feed you, get you a warm bath and a nice bed." She fixed everything wrong with Rachel as well. It actually changed the slightly blocky girls body shape, giving her more feminine dimension as it used up fat reserves.

Rachel shrugged "Hungry."

Taylor led back to the bus stop with a truly enormous cloud of insects following her. Amy nodded "Taylor, any hornets in there? Specifically, any fertilized queens?"

Taylor nodded and landed seven on Amy's arms. Amy nodded "OK, no biting, I am going to make some adjustments and then these can winter at your house and make lots of little amped up babies in the spring."

Vicky frowned "How amped up? If someone is allergic they will already kill them."

Amy nodded "There is a hornet in Asia, Japan, I learned about it while I was there for that attack in the CUI that they didn't let us help with. I treated some of the injuries from it. It kills forty or so people a year but it takes two or three stings to do it. We can make some of them produce epinephrine. That can be a weapon too if we overdose someone with it. We will have to experiment to get the doses right."

"Stinging, they don't bite, and we might as well have them lay now. We can put them in the basement and I can control them." Taylor nodded.

Lisa asked "Can you make them carry a signal for Taylor, or extend her range?"

Amy looked at the one walking on the back of her hand and grinned.

RBW

Danny looked in the back yard at the dog and the girl. Both covered in suds. "OK. And you are?"

A blond girl turned to him "Rachel Lindt, Hellhound to the PRT, Bitch is what she prefers."

Danny blinked "I'm not calling a perfectly lovely young woman Bitch. You are going to have to get used to Rachel, Rachel." Rachel smiled slightly when he shook his head. "Durn women. Stop practicing on me."

Lisa laughed. Taylor and Amy came outside with the fertilized and now modified queens. Danny looked at no one panicking and sighed "So I think we all need to have a talk."

Taylor nodded "We got dinner and Thy is coming over to talk about Rachels case and, well, I'm a parahuman!"

Amy sighed "Taylor! You couldn't do any better than that?"

Danny was standing pinching the bridge of his nose. Taylor handed him a beer as he sat at the picnic table and leaned back against the top of it. "Thanks hon. OK, why don't you girls start at the beginning."

Thy walked up and smiled at the kiss on the cheek she got from Danny. She looked around at the girls and sighed "Poor Danny, you've fallen in with a bunch of scheming women. These two are a bit of a shock though. Lisa, Bitch. I'm Thy, I'll be the legal representative for the team."

Danny dropped his chin to his chest "Damn. Was kind of hoping for some support."

Thy smiled and rubbed his arm "They can't help being parahumans and they can't undo it. There is some research that says if they suppress it, it makes them do weird stuff. Better to channel it. Much better they have a team to protect them and support them. Taylor has the seed money which will be a formal loan and will be paid back with interest when they start patrolling."

Danny nodded "Or get work. I think Taylor and Amy can make money at the hospital. Vicky, hmmm. Oh! High value package delivery. Who could take it from her? I got a guy who can give you all some more training on top of Leslie's. He was a Gunnery Sergeant in Marine Recon. We got some others who were in special operations. Rachel can train dogs; Trained dogs go for anywhere up to fifty thousand dollars and the trainer gets to say who can buy them. We can buy buildings next to the dockyard from the city for a song and the union can rehab them. The guys need to work. It gets money flowing around doing stuff and you girls make money if we do it right."

"Say, do any of these shield Parahumans shields keep out radiation?"

Lisa shrugged "I know of one locally."

Danny nodded "All kinds of reactors in the US need nondestructive testing and repair. If they shut them down and clean them up to do it, it cost millions, tens of millions. We can charge half and still make good money. I got guys that can teach him too."

Vicky nodded "We will have to test my invulnerability but it might work for that too.

Lisa nodded "I have a whole list of abilities we can get."

Danny nodded thoughtfully "I need to talk to the legal section but we can probably break up those anti parahuman laws with the right to work laws."

Thy nodded wide eyed "I think I'm in love." Lisa opened her mouth and Vicky put a hand over it.

Taylor narrowed her eyes at Thy and Danny.

RBW

The next day in court Alan Barnes found himself up against a crack prosecutor with no support from the PRT. Thy Bui was sitting one row back watching silently. As was the PRT lawyer on the other side of the aisle. He knew what that meant. She was going to come after everyone. He had created a contingency fee fed monster right there.

After twenty minutes of procedure and boiler plate the judge looked at the prosecutor "The state has agreed to the lessor charge and supervised probation to include a monitoring device that can be proved to work to the State and the Courts satisfaction?"

"Yes, your honor."

The judge looked at Sophia "Strike two young lady. One more time seeing you, or hearing of you causing more trouble, and I am going to vacate your probation, and you're going to do eight for the first crime and then this is going to trial full tilt. Your employer needs to move you to a different school."

Sophia, on her best behavior for once, nodded "I will ask them to your honor."

The judge nodded, read the verdict and punishment into the record officially and banged the gavel. They all stood and Alan catching sight of Thy shuddered. The PRT lawyer walked straight to her. Alan knew he was going to get to pay a huge settlement to keep Emma's name from being attached to this mess and this hood rat taking her down when she went. There was no question in his mind she would go as well. There was no way this thug could keep her shit together for eight years. "I'll catch you outside Sophia."

"No need. My ride is here." Sophia walked to two PRT troopers standing outside the double doors of the courtroom in full gear.

Alan walked up to Thy and the PRT lawyer. Thy smiled "The PRT settled for a million dollars Alan. Isn't that wonderful?"

Alan groaned "I don't have a million dollars Thy."

The PRT lawyer excused himself and went to where Sophia and the troopers were waiting. Thy smiled her shark like smile "That's fine Alan. We can do it as an annuity with your house for surety. Let's say a five-year period?"

Alan winced. He had just paid the damn house off. Now he would be stuck there until he paid it off again, and he would have to do a mountain of paperwork. Oh, wait a minute, he could remortgage it. It was a mil five. "You say a million dollars Thy?" He could be out from under this and separated from Sophia fucking Hess as soon as he sent Thy a certified check for the settlement and the court a notice of him withdrawing as her lawyer.

Thy nodded as her and Lisa's plan came together. Now to ass rape PRT Philadelphia and the Philadelphia police department and child services for five million or more for Bitch and it would be golden. She needed a lawyer to specialize on contract and labor law. She would have to call around to some alumni. The Union lawyers were waging fucking war with the labor relations board and the courts already, they had the government lawyer's heads spinning. And they were doing it just to remind the government why it was afraid of unions apparently. Danny was so getting laid as soon as Alans check cleared. Taylor was just going to have to get over it. You know what they say about tall guys!

Lisa needed a job too. Part time, independent review maybe. Danny was already lining up on her for the Union. That girl should be kept buried under a mountain of work. That would keep her from getting any more ideas about super hero teams.


	4. Chapter 4

Reality Bites Worm

1.2

Danny walked the buildings right outside the yard with the foremen and Rachel, looking at them for a dog kennel and training facility. Lisa had outlined a plan to take over the animal control for the city. She was sure Taylor could work her way up to all animals that were not self-aware. "Well what do you think Rachel?" They were in an old fruit aging house. Six stories tall with broad switchback ramps at each end. Ramps a wagon could be pulled up. More lozenge than circular really as they spanned the width of the whole building. There were capstans in the turns as well. Ten percent was still a big angle for animal power. The floors were open beside the brick pillars that ran vertically every fifty feet dividing it into four bays.

It was impressive, groin vaulted, and it just felt solid. The Masonry foreman nodded "Seven of these. The vaults are brick, filled with concrete and granite masonry waste for the next floor. Things are probably nuke proof. That stone in the arches is granite, must have got it locally. Lots of history here. I take the fella's in here to show them how it should be done. Every line plumb and true. Even more than a hundred years on. The foundations must be down to bedrock."

Rachel walked to the square hole in the middle of the fifteen-foot-high ceiling "Big room. Big hole."

Jim, the carpentry foreman nodded "Elevator. Freight lift really. Man driven, ropes, pulleys and a counterweight. We could fix one up again. Have to survey the machinery and convert it to electrical probably. It has Otis brakes though so we should be able to get it passed inspection and a drop test. Have to put in a man cage. Ornamental iron maybe."

Rachel nodded "Cats on top. Someone to work with them. I don't like cats." The foremen all smiled. Even the ones that were women.

RBW

Lisa, Taylor, Amy, and Vicky looked at each other at lunch. Lisa broke first and growled at Taylor "You and Rachel are just mean."

Taylor rolled her eyes "Big babies."

Lucy and Amanda, two girls the freshmen kept having in classes, walked up and sat down. Lucy wasn't shy at all "Hi! Lucy, this is Amanda. Why is Taylor mean?"

Vicky huffed "Because she makes us exercise in the morning."

Amanda looked at Vicky's chest "That must be a heck of a sports bra. Mine suck, my boobs hurt every morning after running." Amanda was well endowed just like Vicky. "Or do you have like super boobs?"

Amy and Taylor looked at each other and smiled. Vicky was already off and running about clothes.

RBW

The girls went to the dock yard after the stop by the hospital. Charles was happy with the progress of the negotiation and certification and happy to have Thy's number. They went to look at one of the other massive fruit warehouses. It was deemed good for winter exercise and they met Mark Hausen, the security chief. "So, you want to patrol to be seen once you have names and costumes. Or are you patrolling for some other reason?"

Thy nodded "Good question. There are laws on the books at the federal level, vigilantes or bounty hunters are allowed to keep fifteen percent of the value of the property of a person they arrest. How that has worked out in the common usage is that weapons and drugs are off limits. Money, tinker tech, things created by parahuman abilities, are up for grabs. To play this legal we will need to have everything seized, turned in, assign it a reasonable value and then send the illegal things to the police. We could then demand fifteen percent of the total value. The government would then be obliged to pay that fifteen percent. We can probably play it like everyone does and get away with it."

Mark nodded "So it's a bit about making a living."

Taylor cleared her throat "And a lot about capes can stop capes and sometimes they are the only things that can. I want a town we can live in." The others girls nodded.

Mark smiled "We'll see if that's what you really want when we get done. Pain is weakness leaving the body!"

Leslie rolled her eyes. The girls smiled.

RBW

"The Watch. Thematically more Ankh-Morpork than Westeros. Angua would be cool though. More day watch than nights watch I hope. Though with this crowd..." Taylor trailed off.

Lisa nodded "OK then. So, names?"

"How do you feel about Librarian Lisa?" Taylor smiled.

Lisa looked at her "How do you feel about Cheery Littlebottom?"

Amy burst out laughing and blushed. The others laughed with her. They had all caught her scoping out Taylors round, tight, butt during their training, especially on the runs, by now. Amy had just huffed and told them Taylor had a nice butt. It had become a bit of a running gag, no pun intended. Taylor had developed a nice butt. She was rather pleased Amy and the others apparently all thought so. Embarrassed but pleased. She recovered "I can go with the Watch but I thought Tattletale and Skitter."

Taylor pouted "But I can do squirrels, raccoons, possums, and I think I am making progress on dogs!"

Amy rolled her eyes "All of which can skitter."

Thy nodded and put the names down "Hecate for Rachel, Physis for Amy, and Dianna for Vicky in Watch persona. Good. Costumes?"

Taylor smiled "Yep! All finished, grey to brown as I didn't want to dye it. I think that would affect the silk's strength. We could spray paint the plates but I think that would make us more visible in the dark. They are flat non-reflective grey naturally. The limpets naturally make them that way. They also breed like, well limpets? I had to put them to work on plates of all different sizes and curvatures. That wasn't enough so they are doing the sea wall and the pilings. The pilings of the wharfs were so eaten through they will be solid limpet tooth material when they are finished. If you have anything else for them I need to know. Lester showed me the pilings and the sea wall and said something about dry docks?" Danny blinked and made a note.

Leslie nodded as did Mark "Ballistic lenses for the mask?"

Lisa nodded "Those weren't cheap either. Tinked polycarbonate with a titanium mesh on each side. Still see through but it made them a gold color."

Mark leaned back in his chair "OK you have been in training a month. A patrol around the dock yards to get you started on working out movement techniques and test gear. Do not get decisively engaged and report all phase lines. Zip ties like we practiced, hands and feet. Leave them in the open."

Thy nodded "Secure them, report their location, and move on after you search them and take their stuff. Record everything. The team will appraise everything you find and get it packaged for turn over to the police. Paper work after, so two hours, no more."

"We'll see how this goes." Taylor nodded as she spoke.

Mark nodded and stood up "Radio check."

The girls all stood up and tapped their earpieces twice as they put their headgear on. Their HUDs came on and data started scrolling up the left side as a map appeared and zoomed in. The Toybox supplied tinker tech worked flawlessly. Taylor subvocalized "We need a tinker or two."

Vicky replied, subvocalizing as well "Only until you and Amy manage to figure out how to do this with biology."

They moved out on the ground as Vicky flew top cover. Amy supplied "We got the relay bugs, I can't believe white oak borers worked best for that."

"Plus, we are getting closer on the relay rats, then we can do the raccoons, dogs, possums all of that. What I can't believe was the crabs were easier than the beetles." Taylor added.

Lisa snorted "I can't believe how easily you two pervert nature like that. Knock out hornets, epi hornets, killer bee's which are really hornets making a lethal injection cocktail. You two are S class threats separately. I don't know what you are together. The barbeque is good though." They had tested all the bugs on pigs then cleared the chemicals out of their systems and the Union meat cutters had taken care of it, well, them and the cooks.

Vicky changed the subject "Photon Mom took the silk sample to Parian. She wants us to meet her."

Lucy, back in the monitoring station with Amanda, working in cape support for The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC. petulantly responded "Sure hire in a professional. Don't let the high school girls get work experience."

Vicky rolled her eyes so hard the other girls probably heard it, they certainly heard it in her voice and those in control saw her HUD view swim around "Parian as a consultant and maybe as the chief designer of things made from Taylors spiders silk. She will take your ideas and give credit as well as training maybe."

"Until we get the cows to milking age and while Taylor finishes the spinning thingamajig. Then we can do more." Amanda said "Yes, yes we know."

Taylor cleared her throat "Ten o'clock two blocks. Three Merchants on the corner. Looking for their lookout. Standard deployment."

Rachel made the three dogs grow, she had gotten two new strays Amy and Taylor had healed, and she had trained. The new dogs, Judas and Angelica, joined Brutus the Rottweiler. Rachel's headgear resembled Brutus. She looked at the location Taylor had highlighted in the HUD and looked around at the buildings between where they were now and the corner where the Merchants were. Merchants in this case meant the Archer's Bridge Merchants, one of the parahuman led gangs in Brockton Bay. Drug dealers.

These weren't parahumans though, they were dealers who were junkies. They were operating just on the edge of the Boat Graveyard, in the no man's land between their and the Azian Bad Boyz, another parahumans led gangs, territory. The junky dealers were no match for the ABB who sold the product rather than consumed it and had their territory in the docks area of Brockton Bay.

"Found them." Taylor highlighted the location of the dealers look outs and vectored both her bugs and Rachel along with Vicky onto them. "Stand by, assault element maneuvering." Taylor ordered as she Amy and Lisa jogged from shadow to shadow to get into position. Taylor brought a swarm in to each target "Knock out attack on my mark. Mark."

Amy came up "Send in the epi bugs, they can tell us if the targets are down."

"Roger. OK, they are down. Lucy call it in. Let's secure them and get their stuff. None of them are having adverse reactions." Taylor ordered.

Rachel came up on the net "Gloves." They all put on the purple, heavy-duty, nitrile gloves over their armored gloves.

As they searched and secured the prisoners Amy took off her left glove and touched an area of exposed flesh "I'm going to try to break their addiction and immunize them to drugs." They had discussed this as a group and decided to try it, as Amy had the most experience healing, she was the one picked to do it. She let the first one go, wrote a medical tag and tied it to his wrist then worked through the group. She healed and annotated everything and noted it so it could be billed to the state. She kept a copy of the tag to be transcribed to the bill later. Vicky came and got her to transport her to the two lookouts.

By the time they were through, as they moved off, the first police cruiser showed up.

Mark looked at Leslie in the control room and nodded "Good first effort. Now, let's see what happens as combat accelerated Darwinism sets in."


	5. Chapter 5

Reality Bites Worm

1.3

Thy was looking at the video feed from the body cameras and editing it with Lucy as Amanda kept an eye on the girls. Thy was talking to a detective sergeant in the narcotics division on the phone and then sent the edited video, including the evidence collection and chain of custody procedures. The evidence was sealed in regulation clear plastic evidence bags with single use zip closures and put in a pack on one of the dogs and would stay that way until the valuation crew got it and did the valuation then sealed it in new bags along with the old bags. Thy thought there was two thousand dollars cash but maybe twenty-five thousand dollars in street value worth of drugs. The guns and knives would be worth a couple of grand maybe. That Browning Hi Power in the mix was a good chunk of that. Probably stolen.

The girls continued through the no man's land hitting two more Merchant sites and a ABB site. The police followed dutifully along behind them. Thy was not surprised when a prosecutor showed up to take statements and the girls were warned to stay masked and for Rachel to shrink the dogs. Thy wanted the plausible deniability to continue as Rachel's case wasn't quite adjudicated yet.

The prosecutor looked over the operation and nodded "Ms. Bui, no less than I expected as soon as I saw you were involved. I wish our police adhered to procedure this well. We should be able to get convictions on all of these. Tinker tech video I assume? Very high quality. I knew you were working with the Hebert's' I heard a rumor you only took ten percent on contingency."

Thy nodded "Streaming to certified servers with Dragon encryption. Backed up on each of the parahumans on the team, the dogs as well. That's actually true, the ten percent thing. It was my first case on my own. Of course as it took me about five billable hours and got them high eight figures I didn't get hurt. Some other clients with quick slam dunks have come to me from that. Looking to branch out?"

He nodded "No actually, the real money is in politics. Perhaps after a turn through the senate. Not to change the subject again. I was wondering why eight cameras. The only suggestion I have is add three more cameras to each dog. Get an all-around view of what is happening."

Thy nodded "We will work on it. Money in politics?"

He shrugged "Not at first but later with speaking fee's and book deals, a partnership in a big firm in Boston or New York." He left it out there.

Thy shook her head "I think I will stay with my ten percent on low hour slam dunks. Politics seems a bit of a ethics swamp."

The prosecutor smiled and looked at Danny "Mr. Hebert. Very professional, as I expect from the DWU. The Mayor is going to love this." He sighed.

Danny shrugged "Maybe the police will up their game."

"Maybe. FYI, Purity broke off from the Empire Eighty-eight eighteen months ago. She likes to smash up ABB dealers and gatherings. She may be in touch. An all-female super hero team with a support organization that shares her goals will be hard for her to resist. I would suggest talking to her about joining your team. She has a hell of bad reputation but we have nothing we can pin on her. I don't know how you manage image and legal rehab but she is probably worth the effort. A really heavy hitter." The prosecutor offered as he made arrangements for the evidence pick up and compensation then departed, passing the girls and shaking their hands. It took a further half an hour to get him out the door.

Thy blew a big sigh "And getting Purity with us puts a feather in Senator Payme's pocket, hat, whatever!" She let go a string of Mandarin.

RBW

Amanda was already getting alerts from the bots she had searching the internet for mention of cape activity in Brockton bay. "Four takedowns and you would think we fought off the Simurgh. It must have been a slow cape news night."

Lisa looked over her shoulder "Jesus. Not anymore. Not a hitch tonight though. We finally got it all down."

Danny nodded "OK turn over and bed for you all, tomorrow is a school day." Rachel frowned. Danny chuckled "You aren't fooling anyone Rachel, you like Mrs. Standard. She only has good things to say about you as well." Mrs. Standard was the retired teacher with special education certification that had been hired for Rachel. Danny was fairly sure the dogs were learning as much as Rachel, the woman was a genius at teaching. She worked with Rachel and the other shelter workers and everyone learned something. Hell, everyone in the DWU that wanted to learn anything. She was even reviewing the Unions training programs. The woman was a genius. She was tired of retirement as well. It apparently hadn't agreed with her.

RBW

The next day at Arcadia the student body was buzzing with the news of the new cape team that had sprung up out of nowhere. At Winslow the students were divided along gang lines and the regular students. The regular students were happy to see another apparently heroic team and the gang students, well it depended on which gang. The Merchants and ABB were not happy. The E88 were laughing at those twos misfortune.

Emma looked at Sophia "Why so glum, new heroes?"

Sophia frowned "Those costumes are pretty edgy and those masks have ballistic lenses. Tinker tech, I've seen some in the armory, ballistic eyepro for assault troops to use. They can tank nearly anything shoulder fired. Plus, I think Hecate is Hellhound rebranded. That Skitter, the leader, looks pretty good though. But five out of nowhere? Could be a gang making a move. That's more capes than ABB or Merchants."

Madison nodded "Nice tight ass on her."

Emma rolled her eyes "Put it away Madison. Damn. All that video and stuff turned over to the cops though. They have to have a support organization to get it edited that fast. Maybe you are right. We will have to wait and see."

Sophia shook her head "That will let them get up to speed."

Emma looked at her "And so what are you going to do? Is it wise to take on five capes from who knows where with who knows what experience? Besides you have problems enough already. The courts are watching you."

Madison nodded "They look up to speed now. There have been some rumors of this kind of stuff happening. This is just their debut. They and their support organization obviously feel they are ready for their close up."

RBW

Emily Piggot looked at the video pulled from PHO and enhanced as much as possible and then the video that had been sent to the police. Next, she perused the inventory of evidence seized and asked "These suspected tinker drugs have been brought to us?"

Paul Renick nodded "Proper chain of custody and all. This is Skidmark, or one of his contacts."

Emily watched the video put together by PRT tactical "These people are trained, not expert, yet, but trained by someone with special operations experience.

"Admittedly Merchants and surprised ABB aren't a hard test, their next outing will be tougher. I expect they aren't about to stop training either though.

"That is definitely Hellhound rebranded as Hecate. Even she is being professional. I understood her to be illiterate."

Paul nodded "Our legal department ran into a five-foot one-inch buzz saw named Thy Bui in court. She ate their lunch. First with Shadow Stalker then with Hellhound. We aren't alone, Philadelphia PRT is going to owe millions. So is the Philadelphia Police Department and the Pennsylvania department of children's services. Possibly tens of millions if she can make it a class action as she is trying to do. In front of a jury it could run into hundreds of millions. We are talking about children. Her fee being so reasonable makes her appear a crusader and still nets her millions. There are apparently other parahumans are discussing their cases with her. She will have to hire help.

"Meanwhile the DWU has put forward a proposal to the city council, a bid really, on animal control. Another to purchase vast swathes of the docks, rail yard and boat graveyard section for relief from any environmental cleanup cost and pennies. That one was from this team though. The Watch."

Emily frowned "Contacts in the DWU?"

Paul laughed "No, and not likely. Not in the near term. That would be a long term, deep cover assignment. They have, or rather the Union has, more loyalty than E88."

"The Watch. Catchy but it sounds like a vigilante organization. Those costumes as well." Emily shook her head.

Paul smiled "PR and Image are already having babies over it. It split them right down age lines. The Thirty and younger crowd love them, the over thirty crowd are horrified."

RBW

"Useless fucking hole! Tinker me some goddamn useful fucking kit to stop these cunt's from robbing me blind!" Skid Mark punched Squealer right in the eye. She went down on her butt. He continued to curse and she got up and walked out of the room. Out of the warehouse, out of the boat graveyard, and went to the nearest occupied building. The DWU. Rachel met her walking past the fence. Looked at her now swollen shut eye and took her to the infirmary.

From the infirmary, she took her upstairs to the dorm style room they had used last night, into the showers attached to it and then got her a set of scrubs like they had slept in and put her in a bed. She sat on one of the others. Angelica crawled into the bed and Squealer hugged the dog to her chest. Rachel nodded as the tears streamed down Squealers face and she never made a sound.

When Squealer was asleep she got out her phone and texted Taylor and Amy.

Danny stopped by in the afternoon and sighed. One of the women from accounting and Angelica were in the room with Squealer. He went back to his office and called Thy.

RBW

The girls arrived in the armored, up engine, all-wheel drive, pearl white, 2003, Cadillac Escalade Mark had somehow had a contact for. It had been just delivered when Leviathan wiped out the low-lying areas of the city of Seattle. Then it had set on the demolished dealers lot. They had gotten it for a song, with a clean title. Danny was suspicious but he didn't say anything. He loved that Taylor was riding around in some drug dealers fifty caliber bullet proof, five hundred horsepower, run flat tire equipped, leather interior, armored, pussy trap. Uh VIP protection vehicle. And it had cost twenty-seven grand, instead of the two hundred and fifty thousand you would expect. Mark probably needed a raise. Even if the thing did burn gas like a Merchant burned meth. Danny had nixed the one with the MG 134 on the disappearing post mount in it for the girls, but had it delivered for a 'support vehicle.' The paper work on it was going to keep the lawyer's busy and Danny talking fast for a while.

Danny walked behind the girls, watched Taylor and Amy lay their hands on Squealer then got the door shut in his face. A half an hour later he was down in the cafeteria when the girls came in and introduced him to Sherrel Bailey. He sat and listened as Thy, who had come in as he was introduced, got her story from her and started texting her investigators. Thy looked at him, smiled and he blushed and smiled back. She turned back to her phone but Taylor caught the triumphant little grin.

After Sherrel ate a steer, dressed, medium rare, and all the trimmings, apologizing half the time, the girls drug her away again. Up in the dorm Lisa looked at Taylor and arched a brow "No freak out over your dad banging our lawyer bowlegged?"

"I like Thy, and she is cute. Plus, she isn't in it for the banging. She is all about long term and babies. They haven't gotten to that yet anyway." Taylor looked up and laughed at Lisa's dropped jaw.

Sherrel asked "What?"

Vicky snorted "Hebert's. Always full of surprises. So, what are we going to do with you Sherrel?"

Sherrel shrugged "If I had money I would get real clothes, let my hair go back natural and tink around. Looks like I will finally have to find a strip club to work at."

Taylor laughed "There are warehouses around here full of machinery. While Thy is working on your case you can stay here and tink to your hearts content. Kurt will probably kiss you. He is married though, so none of that other stuff. They will figure out what they are going to pay us for your services and you get that minus fifty one percent for taxes, management fee, dues, retirement, medical and dental. I think we can front you a loan for two weeks until you get your first check."

Sherrel smiled "That would be nice. Hey! You girls wouldn't want to help me take down Uber and L33t would you? They stole an audio emitter with my null grav generator in it."

Lucy smiled "We should do it in some kind of costume and put it on YouTube!"

Taylor pulled her shirt out and looked down the neck of it "Yeah, no." The other girls laughed. Sherrel's wrinkled nose at some of the costumes they pulled up on the internet and Vicky's blush ended that attempt. They were the only ones that had the boobs for the costumes. Or mostly did. Even Lisa wouldn't fill out some of those.

Lisa smirked "We could dress up as the PRT. I know where the PRT junkyard is. Sherrel could fix up some of their old tactical trucks.

They all went to the control center for a briefing and some work on the decision matrix for their next patrol. It was decided to just do a patrol near the boardwalk tonight since they had done their debut last night. Vicky and Amy had to get home. They carried their New Wave costumes in backpacks they left in the Escalade.

Lisa looked around as the patrol went on "I count seven watchers."

Taylor frowned "PRT, the gangs, who else?"

"Faultline's crew, Coils crew and New Wave. PHO guys in the know." Lisa said as Laserdream landed in front of them.

She stuck her hand out "Laserdream of New Wave, You're the Watch."

Taylor nodded as she shook Laserdream's hand "Skitter, she then introduced the others one by one. Ending with "Lucy and Amanda, friends of ours working cape support."

Laserdream nodded "We have six support staff manning the phones and our storefront here on the boardwalk. Two per shift, one to meet people and one for muscle. Sometimes people are idiots."

Laserdream kept a steady conversation up with Taylor as they patrolled. Amy and Vicky hid behind the other girls with shoulders shaking for an hour. Finally, Laserdream said goodbye and Lisa drove everyone home. The girls talked on the phone and giggled until Danny had to put his foot down.


	6. Chapter 6

RBW

Chapter 2.0

The next day at school Vicky sighed "We have to schedule a meeting. Laserdream got New Wave all fired up and they want to help the Watch. Maybe an alliance."

Taylor nodded "It was going to come out eventually. It makes sense to pool resources too. New Wave already has facilities, a presence on the Boardwalk, and with Carol and Sarah, in some board rooms."

Amy sighed "I don't think you get it. Mom, Carol, is going to flip her shit."

Taylor shrugged "Let's text Dad and Thy. They will know how to deal."

Lisa looked at her watch, they had all finished eating "Yeah, Thy should be done with her nooner."

"Ewww! Damnit Lisa!" Taylor was holding her stomach. The other girls were grinning at the pair.

Lisa tilted her nose up "I thought you didn't care?"

Taylor glared "Doesn't mean I want to think about it!"

RBW

Emily looked at the capes and strike team leaders "All right, our new local team was out again last night and paper work has come in from PRT headquarters. They are a registered heroic team and they provide a laundry list of services for a fee."

Paul Renick nodded "MIRIS has already sent instructions and clarifications. They must have a hell of a legal team. Their permitting, licensing, and paperwork is all in order. MIRIS is in contact with them and rendering all possible assistance."

Emily sighed and one of the other officers in the room spoke up "WEDGDG (He pronounced it Wet Dog) has checked them out. They can't find anything indicating they are anything other than a fully registered Heroic team."

Emily nodded "So why haven't they been to see us?"

The leader of the analysis section answered "There are several cases against parahumans working through the courts in the region. The thought is that they did not want to provide leverage by needing our help or anything else when Hecate, who we are sixty eight percent certain is Hellhound, was tied up in court. That is over now. Interestingly an investigation into Purity by both private investigators and the civilian authorities has been conducted. The supposition is that the Watch are preparing to make her an offer or accept her if she asks to join."

Emily nodded as some muttering went around the room "A triumvirate level cape. Which brings me to the next item on the agenda. Powers of the Watch capes.

"Skitter; Master, three, this is increasing at a rapid pace as her power is demonstrated." A video of Skitter in costume played on the screens around the room. "Full master/stranger protocols. She is also a suspected tinker. Those costumes are too good and of a material we haven't seen."

"Hecate; Master five. Those dogs, at least that's what we think they are before she gets a hold of them, are very dangerous. Full master/stranger protocols with her as well.

"Tattletale; Thinker eight, at least, maybe a pregcog." As she switched between the Watch team members so did the images on the screen.

"Physis; Either a bio kinetic like Panacea, or a bio tinker. Five plus minimum."

"Dianna; Alexandria package, Brute five plus, mover five plus."

"All of them have had extensive training and physical conditioning by spec ops people. I recognize some of those moves as I am sure some of you do. They are to be considered dangerous but not hostile. If we have to go after them double the normal amount of personnel and no injuries to them, I am assured they are all teenage girls. We don't need that blowing up in our face. Not like it blew up in Philadelphia's. "

"Paul, see if you can reach out to them. Let's try to get some power testing done. Lock down these numbers and turn those pluses into hard numbers."

Armsmaster looked thoughtful "That is a formidable team."

Emily nodded "And that is without Purity. With her they will gain a Blaster eight, Mover four, Breaker. Who they can then add their gear to for unknown ratings plus ups and provide an effective team too, and with."

Miss Militia, a protectorate cape of some renown and the second in charge of the Protectorate ENE, Brockton Bay offered "The team are all female."

Emily frowned "A Lustrum situation? I don't believe so. An all-female team had to happen eventually. We know more females than males trigger.

"We need to keep an eye on this team but for now they are a registered heroic team. I think what has me worried is their sudden appearance as a cohesive fighting unit. We missed a lot if a team has been building and training right under our noses. We have dismissed the possibility of a group trigger. At least one of them gives us high confidence in a rebranding."

Armsmaster drummed his fingers "Perhaps Aegis and the wards saw something in the local schools? I will discuss it with them."

Emily nodded and they moved on to the next topic.

RBW

Aegis, Carlos, stood with the others waiting on transportation. Dean was talking to Vicky and the other girls were hovering close to her like girls did. Lending support without interfering. Or being from a different planet, whichever. Girls were hard to figure. Missy and Sophia certainly didn't support each other. They were more likely to come to blows.

Sophia was overconfident as well. Missy was past competent with her power. Sophia was going to mess around and get the shock of her life. It couldn't happen to a better candidate; the problem was it would cost them a teammate one way or the other. He should probably talk to Miss Militia about his concerns. Talking to Armsmaster hadn't helped.

RBW

Lisa slid the Escalade into Panacea's parking space at the hospital and the girls grinned at each other. They had laughed about it, but Charles was getting her and Taylor all the accoutrements of a normal Doctor. He said it would make them treat her more like an equal.

What was unequal being the office staff he had brought in. They were all retirees like him. Amy and Taylor had worked on them and out of that they got a staff with forty years of experience minimum apiece. A very dedicated staff as the Panacea diet plan had them all in the best shape of their lives. She burned up a lot of fat correcting the effects of aging. The office ran like clockwork.

As always, they started in the ICU, the section of it where the patients were not expected to live. They then worked through the worst outcomes, amputations, organ removals, things like that and finished up in the children's wards. Last, they checked the burn unit. A quick stop in the ER on the way out and Panacea doing her drug immunizations to everyone with an addiction and they were off to the cancer clinic attached to Medhall.

By five they were at the union building. Danny led them to warehouse in the row of fruit company warehouses and walked them through it. The girls nodded and got to planning. Not like Lisa wasn't doing that all the time on a tablet she had gotten anyway. Even when they were just sitting around.

At six New Wave showed up and the Watch met them in costume and retired to a conference room. Carol opened immediately "First, congratulations."

Vicky, never one for subtlety, nodded "Thanks mom."

Carol froze "Vicky?"

Mark Dallon, Flashbang, chuckled, then laughed, then laughed until he had to hold his ribs. Carol looked like she was sitting on something nasty. Sarah Pellam, Lady Photon shook her head but she was smiling. When Mark finally got under control he looked at Vicky who took her headgear off.

Laserdream growled "You, you, I don't know what you are!"

Amy took her headgear off and smiled impishly "Sorry but we didn't really know what to do last night. We weren't trying to trick you. We were going to tell the family. We never expected the full court press."

Sarah nodded "So this is you leaving New Wave?"

Vicky shook her head "No! This is us having multiple personality disorder, or something."

Danny cleared his throat "The girls met, found out they were all parahumans in the course of being girls, and while Vicky and Amy were already out, the others couldn't really go that way. They then decided the easiest way was for those two to use a different persona for working together. So, a new team was born. The Union got dragged in because of the labor lawyers and well, here we are. We would like to walk you through what we did to get here and show you what we plan."

They did just that. After they were all back in the conference room again Sarah opened the next phase "We were thinking of an alliance. Now I'm not sure we shouldn't all join the Watch."

Carol sighed "The girl's powers have changed. Were you around when one of these girls triggered Vicky?"

Vicky shook her head "That's Tattletale. Well her, Leslie and Mark. Lucy and Amanda as well. They can figure out how to make our powers do stuff we hadn't even thought of until now. They also find the limitations and figure out ways to compensate for them."

Crystal Pellam, Laserdream, snorted "That's it, I'm joining the Watch."

Thy spoke up "We thought as you did, an alliance. That doesn't mean you cannot have a clandestine persona as a Watch member."

Carol nodded "That has distinct advantages. Is the Watch going to be all female?"

Taylor shook her head "It wasn't intended to be. Hecate, and now Athena, were sort of rescues." Sherrel had gone with the theme and chosen Athena as her cape identity.

Carol nodded "Rebranded then. Not like the Protectorate hasn't done that before, or other capes. Hmm. Thy do you need help with any of this in court?"

Thy smiled "It would be nice to have a second opinion."

Carol nodded "You know we could set up a private practice and do mostly cape cases."

Thy nodded "I'm seeing a great underserved need here. And that's just PRT ENE. I actually haven't been taking a big percentage as even the settlements are huge. If we ever get to a jury I will never be able to spend the money and will have to convert to tax law. I'm already in private practice, we can talk about you joining. We need some others too; a contract and a tax attorney would be nice. It would be great if they were capes but I would prefer that they are at the top of their fields. I cover family, civil, and criminal law now. We need a patent attorney as well since we have a Tinker."

"So, you are the legal services part of The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC.?" Sarah asked.

Thy nodded "With some bought time from the Union labor lawyers yes."

Mark, and Neil Pellam, Manpower, nodded and Neil said "I don't think anything holds us back from an alliance and I would like the trainers and thinkers looking at my powers. Maybe an old dog can learn new tricks."

Mark added "Not so sure I'm going to rebrand though."

Crystal blurted "Artemis!"

Sarah snorted "Well that's one vote for."

Taylor smiled "We have patrol early, we are going to start at three am. Then we will go school after. Crystal, want to come along?"

Crystal nodded like a bobble head and Neil asked, "Can we observe how your operations cell works?"

Taylor looked at everyone looking at her and rolled her eyes "Sure. Crystal let's get you in costume and run through a talk and walk through, then we can get some sleep before we go."

All of New Wave perked up. Costumes were expensive.

In the room they were using for a workroom Crystal went through a process the girls had streamlined. Some union seamstresses had set it up and helped them modify it as well as getting the necessary cutting tables and sewing machines.

The guys went to look at the building they were already calling the Watch Tower as Crystal was in her underwear for most of the experience. She got a body suit, a tunic with a skirt, a cuirass, greaves, thigh and arm guards. The armor was all mix and match from parts Taylor had limpets making on plastic forms, which the seamstresses had gotten some of the fiberglass shop people to make, but they managed to find good fits. Crystal got in the body suit and frowned "This has no give at all."

Amy nodded "Not like Lycra or spandex. It will have to be adjusted if you gain or lose weight. We all have several, periods, you know. It's tougher than Kevlar though and built so you aren't restricted. It takes a little getting used to."

Crystal nodded "Still have to strip to pee."

Lisa shrugged "It was that, or fasteners in the crotch." All the women wrinkled their noses.

Sarah looked at the costume "And its grey?"

Taylor shrugged "We haven't tried dyeing or bleaching it yet as we haven't had time to test it for strength after that. Its spider silk from spiders we modified so no research on it except what we have done. We were going to talk to Parian."

Carol nodded "She is good, and will love this fabric. We'll have her in the Watch as soon as she sees and feels this. What are these plates proof against?"

Vicky grinned "fifty caliber Browning Machine Gun. We didn't have anything bigger to test it against."

Crystal looked around "But you have a heavy machine gun?"

Taylor laughed "A Barret M107. Several of them. Mark, the head of security is working on, or was working on, a Carl Gustav recoilless rifle because, Squealer. And the Boat Graveyard is close. The Merchants like to try the Dockyard every couple of years."

Athena blew her cover, like those boobs, and them being attached to a Tinker, hadn't already "Oooh! That man! He blew up so many of my toys!"

The others looked at her then laughed. Carol finally asked "OK, first weren't you like a terminal drug addict? Plus, where did you get that voice?" Squealer no longer sounded like a chipmunk. She now had a very nice contralto.

Sherrel shrugged "Amy and Skitter fixed me up."

Carol turned to Amy and arched a brow "Cleaned her up and made her allergic to drugs. The voice thing was Skitter, erh, maybe. We were working together. Our Powers synergize really well and kind of get all comfy together. The results end up being more than we knew quite often. Nothing bad, or harmful, but more." Amy shrugged.

Carol looked thoughtful "So if you and Skitter cooperated maybe it would fix your father."

Amy's mouth dropped open and Taylor face palmed her mask. Lisa said "Ouch." And pinched the bridge of her nose.


	7. Chapter 7

Reality Bites Worm

2.1

The guys looked up as the Watch, now including Artemis, came in the Watch Tower. Mark Hauser followed them in "OK, Dodona talk us through it." He led them over to what the military would have called a rock drill, a terrain model laid out on the floor of the warehouse with colored yarn indicating routes, objectives, suspected enemy locations, target reference points, and phase lines. Rocks, Bricks and concrete blocks made up the structures.

Lucy and Amanda stepped up with binders. Lucy looked at Taylor "Skitter launch the scouts now please. This is a presence patrol. The goal is to provide visibility in another part of the city. The intention is to split the seam between the ABB and E88. The Empire has yet to receive any of our attention and the thought was to keep things even. Or as even as possible. The route is marked in yellow. It should be coming up on all your HUDs right now."

Crystal reached out in front of herself "Holy fucking shit this is cool! How do these work in flight?"

"Great. It takes a minute to get used to but the flight to the SP should be enough for you." Vicky responded.

"What's an SP?" Crystal asked.

Mark nodded "Jargon. Start Point. Use the words ladies. At least until we get everyone on board."

Lucy nodded "OK. So, from the start point here" She used a laser pointer "the mission is foot patrol, wedge formation, led by Skitter consisting of Skitter, Hecate, Physis, Tattletale, and Athena, who will be mounted and provide heavy ground support and extraction if necessary."

Taylor asked, "You finished the panel truck?"

Sherrel nodded "Yep, it's in the paint shop now. It should finish cooking in plenty of time. Then cool down and pre mission checks and services and the guys in the maintenance section have that. Grey digicam. The weapons suite is recoilless so can get really heavy, and mortars. Not enough to take Lung if he is all the way amped though. No kinetic, all HE or shaped charges. Though a hundred six-millimeter shaped charge ought to slow his ass down. Only two of those. We only have five right now. More HE and some white phosphorous but, collateral."

Lucy nodded "Lung or any two or more of the E88 capes are immediate withdrawal. Artemis and Dianna will provide air cover. The route is as follows-"

Carol looked at Sarah and leaned over to her "The Protectorate doesn't plan this well."

Sarah snorted "Or rehearse. 'Endbringer, go die'."

Carol nodded to Mark, Neil and Eric who were hypnotized. Sarah nodded.

RBW

Crystal looked at the other girls and stretched on her bunk "This is great! Think Mom would let us stay here?"

Lisa shook her head "You weren't saying that until Amy and Taylor got hands on you. You were busy groaning." Taylor had unmasked for Crystal. Hard to shower with your mask on.

"Shush you. Leslie and Mark are sadist." Crystal replied.

The others laughed. Taylor replied "And they will be sadist on specific parts tomorrow now that they have your levels and abilities. We will accelerate your recovery again."

Crystal nodded "That's how you all look and move like you have been training for years, no recovery time."

Amy nodded "And two a day training on the weekends. You're going to eat like a horse though."

"I get a hard body like all of you? Fine." Crystal replied.

Amy and Taylor went around and adjusted everyone to sleep then crawled in bed together and adjusted each other.

RBW

Sarah and Carol entered the room at two and started waking the girls. Carol asked, "Amy why are you and Taylor in bed together?"

Amy snuggled into Taylor "Warm."

Taylor huffed "Her power doesn't work on herself. I have to adjust her hormones to a sleep state so she does mine. Easier to do if we are in the same bed. Also, I apparently make a nice pillow and occasional drool absorber. How is Mr. Dallon?"

Carol winced then grinned "Great. I may have to get you to turn his libido down though. We still haven't slept."

"Mom! Eww!" Vicky covered her ears. The others laughed.

Sarah chuckled "Showers, costume, breakfast. Fifty minutes to SP."

Amy grumbled "Holy crap. The Gunny infected another one!"

The group made it to the cafeteria and found the men and Leslie along with Thy waiting. Even Eric. Amy looked at him and he shrugged "Me next. I'm not doing a Greek name though."

Lisa shrugged "Spartan, with your shield or on it."

Eric blinked then grinned "THIS IS SPARTA!" He struck a pose.

Mark Dallon rubbed his chin "You know that has legs, and would give us the split personality trick too. Dibs on Leonidas."

Carol frowned "That would make me Gorgo. I'm not sure I can pull of Leanne Headey."

Vicky smiled "Sure you can mom, you're a MILF."

"Vicky!"

Vicky waved her off "We'll do it without the scars though."

"What?" Carol blinked.

After a steak and egg breakfast and everyone watching Crystal and Mark Dallon eat what seemed like a chicken farm and half a cow apiece. They all got sorted and in their appropriate places. The girls mounted up in the panel van you could barely see in the dark, Lucy and Amanda took up positions in the operations room. Crystal and Vicky floated over the panel van. Taylor started "All stations this is Skitter, radio check."

RBW

Colin, Armsmaster, opened his eyes when the chime went off, he went over to a work station. Dragon, a Canadian cape, The Tinker, appeared on the screen in it "The Watch just came up on the radio. It sounds like they are mounting a patrol."

Colin nodded and sent an email to Emily Piggot. He then watched as the cameras he had around the city tracked onto various vehicles and found one that looked like just a set of lights moving down the road "I believe I found them."

Dragon's image in the monitor nodded "Tinker paint. It even obscures the thermal image. It doesn't eliminate it and it doesn't read like anything I have seen before, so, the Watch has at least one tinker for sure. This Athena on the radio is new. As is Artemis."

Colin nodded "They sound female too. The vehicle passed under a set of street lights, some kind of camouflage scheme for certain. A panel truck, I've only ever seen those on the internet."

"Dodge four-wheel drive panel truck of the WC series or a G7105 Chevrolet Panel truck. Hard to tell. Diesel, so repowered. I think it's a G7105 with a Cummins/Dodge power train. Its wider however, at least than the pictures on the internet. The body I mean."

It was in fact styled on the G7105 panel truck. Some of the warehouses the Watch had bought up in the boat graveyard had been full of surplus and used equipment. The body work had been used for molds, covered with gelcoat and the limpets that made the armor had coated the inside of the panel molds with a layer of the plate material Skitter had developed after the spiders had covered it in silk. There were five layers of the silk impregnated with the limpet plate materials. The result was essentially an exoskeleton that was nearly indestructible. The repaired, modified, and then built new, frame had been covered in the same way, after Sherrel had come up with a coating that protected it from salt water. The thing could have mounted a cement mixer or thirty two yard dump body. The engine was a Cummins 6BT, reworked by Sherrel, that put out a thousand-foot pounds of torque, and the transmission, transfer case and differentials were the heaviest that the Dodge ton and half trucks had, then it was all reworked by Sherrel. The Cummins 6BT had started life in 1984 as an engine for Case agricultural and construction machinery. It had then been used by Dodge for light and medium duty trucks. There were millions of them around and they were easy to hotrod. Plus, they had the strength to be hotrodded.

Dragon frowned "A vehicle tinker? Stand by. No one has seen Squealer in over a week. Looking through video, the last time she was seen was walking away from an area in the Boat Graveyard on a traffic camera."

Colin sighed "So Artemis or Athena is Squealer, rebranded, their bio kinetic changed her voice and somehow they broke her addiction. That damn truck will be armed to the teeth and can probably drive up and down buildings."

Dragon chuckled "And survive a ground nuke strike. It is pretty though. Athena, she would be a female smith or artisan's choice. Artemis would be a hunter so expect a Striker/Blaster."

"I'm going to meet them." Colin announced.

Dragon paused then said, "Wait for me, or take Ms. Militia Colin."

Colin sighed "I'm not that bad."

"Certainly not to me, but I've gotten past your crusty exterior. These are all young women. Some that have already had trouble with the PRT and that the PRT is paying money to because they screwed up. Hecate especially." Dragon soothed him. Colin sighed and texted Ms. Militia. Dragon smiled "I have a remote in DC, it's on the way to you now. It's a general-purpose package but well-armed."

RBW

The girls hit the SP on time and in the correct formation. They moved in their normal way, hugging the shadows as the swarm filled them in on the situation. "OK two groups. A group of ABB selling drugs here." Taylor marked it. "And a group of E88 doing the same here." Another mark appeared.

Tattletale sighed "It's their competition strategy. They set up near each other and try to draw the other's customers."

Amanda cut in "Silent take down and call the cops after you have taken both. If we do it quick enough the word won't even get out until their reporting is missed, Dodona suggest."

Artemis asked, "Do you think these guys are actually reporting other than once a day to turn in their money and get more product?"

"We can't assume they aren't, so everyone stay alert. Dodona, one of you talk to the cops and tell them no lights or sirens and to come from south east of us. We will hit and move on. Call them once we are clear. We will leave a bug to monitor them. Athena and Artemis can get back quick to protect them if we stack them all up together in a central location with good access." Taylor ordered.

Thy came up on the net "Lieutenant Dresser of narcotics is here Skitter. He monitored. He is moving units up behind you clandestinely."

Taylor blinked "Uh, OK. Knock out bugs on my mark. Mark. Move to targets as on your HUDs"

The HUD overlay appeared on a map in the control center and Lt. Dresser started his people moving.

Vicky told Crystal "Use the sling to move them. Thank god they aren't stinky merchants."

Crystal laughed "I bet they are covered in Axe or some other cheap crap though."

RBW

"I've got their HUD data stream." Dragon overlaid it on a map of downtown.

Ms. Militia scowled "How are they getting the scout data?"

Colin frowned and worked for a few minutes then blanched "The whole area of operations has an unusual concentration of insects. Four racoons with some kind of camera as well. Skitter is in control of them and can sense what they sense apparently."

Hannah, Miss. Militia, whistled through her teeth "Master ten, Thinker five. Tinker one."

Dragon laughed "Ten plus, there are hundreds of thousands of bugs. Thinker eight if she is using them all at the same time. How does she do that?"

Hannah barked a laugh "Powers are bullshit. A biokenetic in the party too with them talking about knock out bugs and epi bugs. Unless Skitter is a biotinker the bio- no that doesn't fit, one of them is a biotinker. I bet Skitter, tinker eight."

"Fuck me." The women looked at Colin. "What can she have done to those dogs of Hecate's."

Dragon chuckled "Or those racoons. I haven't seen them fly yet but probably because she is new. Maybe Miss Militia or I should do the talking." Hannah nodded.

Colin sighed again "Well, come on. We will intercept them here." He marked the map.

Dragon nodded, still in flight at high altitude and high speed. "Meet you there."

RBW

Lisa looked at her HUD "Someone is piggy backed on our signal, cut right through the encryption. It will be Dragon. Heads up, expect a visit from the Protectorate."

Before anyone of the adults could say anything, Taylor said "Fine, we are all heroes together. Stay on mission. Next two targets." She put them on the HUD, drew routes and set up the teams. She sent Artemis with Hecate and Physis. Athena let the truck, in its lowest gear, idle up the middle of the street, the tweaked Cummins engine had more than enough power for that, or climbing Everest, K2, the Matterhorn, whichever.

Artemis had the turret powered up and loaded with a one hundred and six-millimeter containment foam round. It would deliver thirty pounds of the binary components of containment foam and make a block of foam the size of a one car garage. The munition was smart and autonomous as well. She could fire them as fast as she could mark targets or targets were marked for her. The recoilless rifle and mortars had auto loaders. The mortars had in fact been changed to breech loaders and as they were one hundred and seven millimeters could and did use the same warhead with a different obturator band making the mortar rounds smart and autonomous as well once they turned over at apogee. Of course, they could be fired from either weapon in their 'dumb' mode as well. It simplified the loadout and the guys in the shops could build them with commercial off the shelf parts. Well after some discussion and fiddling. Oh, and actually drawing a design. Sherrel worked all out of her head, no paper. The shop foremen had a couple journeymen and a CNC programmer following her around making notes.


	8. Chapter 8

Reality Bites Worm

2.2

Armsmaster was waiting at the next intersection with Dragon. Miss Militia fell in with Physis's crew. "Armsmaster." Skitter greeted him.

Armsmaster nodded "Skitter. May I introduce Dragon?"

The dragon suit gave the impression of glancing at Armsmaster and smiling somehow. Lisa rubbed her temples "Ouch."

Taylor smiled, you could hear it in her voice "Glad to meet you Dragon. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

Dragon smiled back the same way "We just wanted to meet you. Don't let us interrupt what must be a profitable operation. Especially as it is serving the community so well."

Thy spoke up from Dodona, the first evidence had already come back on Angelica, "Very. Some high quality automatic weapons here. It would be horrific if two of these groups went after each other. Pharmaceutical quality opiates too Lt Dresser says. Twenty-six thousand dollars cash, jewelry, all kinds of stuff."

Lisa watched the two Protectorate people nod and sighed "You know, I didn't expect you to hack your own security software."

Dragon smiled coyly somehow "It's in the fine print. It isn't even a hack. It's built in access for law enforcement. You all being a registered Heroic organization, well, it's a little rude, but you'll forgive us."

Lisa frowned "Or modify it. Got the message. Plus, I am reading all those freaking disclaimers next time."

Dragon laughed "Yay! Competition! This will be fun."

Taylor cleared her throat "Knock out bugs in five seconds."

The girls got serious, got both groups down, searched, medically checked, and packaged in seven minutes. The police showed up as Judas took the evidence away. Angelica had shown back up. Rachel started growing Judas as she shrank Angelica to give her a break.

Armsmaster Dragon and Ms. Militia were impressed "If you don't mind my asking how long have you been training?" Armsmaster asked.

Taylor shook her head "No that's fine, together? Six weeks. Some of us have been triggered much longer, some are more recent. Our support, training, and legal section are really good at finding ways to get synergies from us."

Artemis nodded "Mostly by way of torture."

Vicky laughed "Big baby, they haven't even started on you. She is our newest member." Vicky and Crystal were back flying top cover.

Armsmaster nodded "Even more impressive. I wonder if we could get some of that training. The wards too."

Thy spoke up "Dodona here. Something could be worked out, for a fee of course, but you might lose Vista. We would never take Shadow Stalker, not as she is, but if Vista asked we would take her in a heartbeat."

Miss Militia blinked "Isn't it a little dangerous out here?"

Carol spoke up "Brandish here, New Wave is standing by in case we are needed. The Watch over watches us in the alliance we are setting up. Plus, Athena can apply overwhelming force in the case of anyone less than Lung or Purity.

"The weapons could be made to handle those two, we don't like to carry that ammunition though."

Dragon nodded "Purity isn't with you yet?"

You could hear Thy smirking as she replied "You saw that investigation then. Oh, I think tonight might swing her."

Ms. Militia looked around "A recruiting drive?"

Thy added "You will know them by their fruits."

"Matthew 7:16. But isn't that about false prophets?" Hannah replied.

"Or false people in general. I think Purity learned a hard lesson. I can't find any direct evidence of major crime, most of her actions have been in self-defense or the defense of others. It was a bit of a surprise. Even what she has done to the ABB. She lands, ask them to surrender, and they attack her. She hasn't killed anyone yet. I'm willing to take it to a jury. Especially as the State Prosecutor for this area is the one that mentioned that to the City prosecutor who relayed it to me. I assume they would prefer her in with us." Thy answered.

Armsmaster changed the subject "Could Dragon and I look at your vehicle?"

They all winced at the squeal from Athena and the vehicle appeared as if by magic, or teleportation. They chuckled at Armsmaster's defensive crouch and Dragons laugh. Dragon said, "Oh I want one!"

Athena smiled "We found a warehouse full of them. World War two surplus. Mostly worn out, ex national guard and reserve equipment. The body is sexy as hell and we got enough parts from salvage yards to really trick them out."

The two got in and Taylor handed Miss Militia a pair of Oakley's from a pocket in her armor. "Ballistic and have the HUD, the HUD does thermal and low light enhancement in a synthesized real-time image that you can see through. OK people move it out, we're burning darkness here."

Lisa closed up on Ms. Militia and got her and the HUD adjusted to each other. Ms. Militia sighed "I want these for everyone."

Danny came up in the net "How would the Protectorate and PRT feel about bullet, fire, and impact proof, or at least resistant, costumes and uniforms."

"Great, but they cost ten thousand dollars apiece." Ms. Militia replied.

Dany had a smile in his voice. "Oh, I think The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC. Can beat that price. It's in our list of products and services, and we are getting in a designer."

RBW

Armsmaster's motorcycle and Ms. Militia's Cougar, a MRAP (Mine resistant Ambush Protected vehicle), trundled along parallel to the route, one in ABB territory, one in E88 territory, but back behind the police even. This had the advantage, unintentionally, of focusing those two groups on the vehicles instead of what was happening a mile and half further along the route.

In the Watch truck Dragon asked "So, can you tell us what happened?"

Sherrel checked to make sure she wasn't transmitting "Skidmark beat my ass one time to many. I left. Hecate found me wandering. I think. I was on so many drugs, a lot of them I don't remember taking. Physis and Skitter cleaned me up and made me healthy."

Dragon nodded "And the Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC. Legal department took your case on and are rampaging through the courts again."

Athena grinned "Tiny little Asian woman, Thy Bui, and now Brandish, a bunch of Lawyers the DWU had too. Don't mess with them."

Armsmaster nodded "As the PRT and State prosecutors in at least two states have discovered."

Dragon looked at her "But you are good now?"

Athena nodded "Trust me, Vista would be better off here. First, they are female so they understand. And next through infinity they are female so they understand. After that they are female and close to her age."

Armsmaster opened his mouth and Athena sighed "You are a dick and you have one. Maybe you are a dick because you have one. Just leave it and trust me on this, it's better for females, especially young ones, to learn here in the Watch. Plus, they don't care about age, it's all about ability and can you handle it."

Dragon laughed and apologized to the obviously offended Armsmaster "Sorry. He is getting better about being a dick Athena."

Athena nodded "Debugging takes a while, I understand. Mine never took. Maybe it was the drugs resetting him. Plus, Asperger's is a bitch, and Tinker. Hey, you know, I never thought of it before, not all together like that, now I feel sorry for thinking you were just a dick all these years. Still not an excuse though. You need to work on that more, especially around the girls."

Armsmaster frowned "Why them specifically?"

"Duh, they triggered. So, they are fucked up from jump street, right? Trigger event equals fucked up by definition. Then they are girls and society tells them one thing and does another. Advertisers and the media don't help. We are looking for a therapist. Really though, having a good group of girls around you goes a long way. A good group of men goes even further and the DWU are good men. New Wave as well."

Armsmaster nodded "A point I have raised repeatedly. About the therapist I mean."

Sherrel looked at the HUD on her windshield "OK two more groups, what, one every block? What the hell? Skitter is filling in the route in front of us more and more. The coons and swarm are moving pretty quick. Dodona and Tattletale are putting in detail too."

Dragon nodded "It's their border security and their primary sales organ all in one."

Sherrel sighed "Four hours tonight and a set every twenty minutes? If the girls don't get exhausted. So, twenty-four of these groups?"

Armsmaster whistled "That will put a dent in the ABB and the E88."

Dragon shrugged "Street level ops. ABB will still have their brothels and Casino and E88 their protection racket along with however else it is they make money."

Armsmaster nodded then cautioned "If one escapes-" He left it hanging.

Athena laughed "No one gets away from Skitter when she has this many bugs. She knows everything. For blocks and blocks. She has been pulling this swarm together for forty minutes. There probably aren't bugs within five blocks that she isn't in control of."

Dragon tilted her head "And the animals?"

Athena shrugged "Not millions but if it isn't a dog, or self-aware, Skitter has it."

Dragon nodded "And Hecate has the dogs." Athena grinned and shrugged.

RBW

Lt. Dresser was a happy man. The state and local government was not going to be. The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC's share was one million fifty thousand dollars if this valuation held up. He suspected it was low. They had film of each of these groups making sales and of the take downs and searches. All these weapons were illegal. This was big. "Cooperation pays."

Danny laughed "And the politicians will look like Law and Order supporters. All at the cost of the low-level scum being taken out rather than their friends at the country club."

Lt Dresser nodded "I'll talk to Jennifer Talmage in Vice. ABB has a casino and E88 a dogfighting operation we have never had enough power to hit."

RBW

Hannah looked at the girls getting ready for school after their showers. She had brought in her bail out bag and grabbed a shower too. They were a little casual about mask and Hannah essentially didn't have a life outside of work. Certainly not one that crossed paths with many teenagers, and none of these. "You girls did great. I'll recommend we pay for evaluation and training for the wards."

Lisa smiled "If you can get Armsmaster and Dragon out of Athena's ride."

Hannah nodded and laughed. "It is pretty sweet. That whole troop carrying/command and control/ambulance thing being a slip pack it can self-load and unload is damned impressive. Nearly as impressive as those stores. I don't think I have seen an autoloader that builds the rounds out of projectiles, components, and propellent before. It's quick too."

Sherrel nodded "Mark one. I have some more weapons to add now that we have proved the concept."

Hannah arched a brow "A hundred six-millimeter recoilless rifle not being enough overmatch for the gangs?"

Sherrel shrugged "Lung. I was thinking a taser the size of the recoilless. Oh, maybe a taser round for it or the mortars! I saw one of those in a magazine for a twelve gauge."

Taylor looked around "Chop, chop, breakfast then school."

Amy flopped back on the bed "Mission over, you aren't the boss of us anymore." Taylor grabbed her arm "No Taylor! Damnit!" Amy leapt up and paced the room.

Hannah arched a brow. Taylor smiled "Boosted her metabolism." Amy growled at her.


	9. Chapter 9

Reality Bites Worm

2.3

At the PRT building later Ms. Militia, Dragon and Armsmaster sat with Emily Piggot in a teleconference with Director Costa Brown and the Triumvirate. Eidolon demanded "Well?"

Dragon calmly returned "The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC., is a high functioning team set up by women for women. Powerful capes, well trained, well-armed and well supported. They fund themselves and are going to obliterate both the Guild and the Protectorates ability to recruit female capes, high quality, high caliber ones anyway. The girl's parents, where there are parents, are heavily invested in the team and have total transparency as they are the cape support organization. New Wave is completely on board with them."

"So, they are a threat then." Eidolon announced. Everyone looked at him "What?"

Dragon was puzzled. Something was wrong there.

Alexandria rolled her eyes "Hush Eidolon. I heard nothing in that that was a threat. Quite the opposite. I heard they don't particularly care about the Protectorate or the PRT."

Ms. Militia nodded "That was the impression I got. They understand cape law and are fully prepared to use it to wring every advantage for their organization that they can. Interestingly with the way the LLC is registered they can claim protection under federal anti-discrimination laws as a woman owned small business. Thy Bui is a genius attorney. The Union lawyers used the right to work laws to break the NEPEA laws, which will have to go to the Supreme Court to figure out which has precedence. I would be willing to bet it is the older labor law as NEPEA is blatantly discriminatory. Thy Bui already has the local and state politicians scared. She has an organization doing investigations on them."

Chief Director Costa-Brown added "MIRIS is waxing lyrical about them."

Eidolon growled and Alexandria looked at him "Eidolon I don't think you have any idea how hard it is for female capes."

Emily nodded "PRT officers and troopers either."

Legend chuckled "Being a gay one is no walk in the park. Most legislators are straight white males Eidolon. The laws reflect that. Truthfully, I'm rather glad to see this. I am concerned however, a bio tinker?"

Emily sighed "I have watched five hours of interactions of her and her group, the girl is no Nilbog."

Armsmaster agreed and added "She is no Blasto either."

Miss Militia shrugged "You know my opinion of Bonesaw. She is a near terminal case of Stockholm Syndrome and completely disassociated from reality. If she could be gotten away from the Nine she might, with years of work, be salvaged."

Eidolon blinked "What? I hadn't heard this opinion."

Legend cut in "Later Eidolon. So, she is no Bonesaw either."

Hannah nodded "She is not, she is also a Tinker Striker. She doesn't cut her subjects up. Like Panacea she works with the body she is changing. Her and Panacea's, it has to be Panacea in that Physis outfit, powers synergize perfectly. Together there is apparently nothing they can't fix, including brains. They have apparently cured Flashbang and several cases of drug addiction with end stage complications."

Chief Director Costa Brown narrowed her eyes and looked at a tablet in her hand "Medical Services. Right here in the list of things the Watch provides. So, they can cure anyone of anything and charge what they want."

Dragon nodded "And instead they charge the Medicare rate. Greedy supervillains they are not. If it was just that that those two provided they would live comfortably. It's all the other stuff that is going on that will make them wealthy. Brockton Bay was the perfect place for this group. And in Thy Bui and Danny Hebert they have advisors with vision. I suspect it was one or both of those two that got the whole thing going."

Armsmaster nodded "Skitter is very driven. She realized we were there, monitored us, carried on conversations and still led her team to clear a two-block wide strip more than four miles long."

Legend smiled "I think I will have to come patrol with these girls. They sound interesting. So, Athena is Squealer rebranded yes?"

Armsmaster nodded "And given appropriate tools and workspace. Supplied with more than scrap. Given helpers who are master mechanics, metal workers and electricians. I have some ideas for weapons and vehicles for PRT squads I am going to work with her on. That recoilless rifle of hers is amazing. It already existed, she added an autoloader and fire control to it. That truck also has four-point two inch mortars. Modified. Very well thought out. She has containment foam rounds for both the recoilless rifle and the mortars. The same warheads, different means of propulsion and obturator bands the autoloaders assemble as they load the guns.

"We should authorize her having the real containment foam. Hers is apparently time limited. The recoilless rifle is capable of lethal payloads, the mortars as well, but they only have a few, five I think. Those are for Lung. They don't think they will be lethal against him."

"They only have foam for the mortars. They are afraid of collateral damage with the mortars. They passed my lie detector on that. We should probably look at stocking some lethal rounds for both and updating her fire control for them, in case of emergency. No doubt she could make them, she has in the past, but time might become of the essence."

"She is a criminal!" Eidolon announced.

Emily supplied "She won't be long. Watch legal already began filing briefs. On Purity, as well. My lawyers here tell me they have a good chance of succeeding in getting both of their charges dismissed. Skidmark apparently used tinked narcotics on Athena. It's a wonder she isn't dead, her escaping from him is a miracle. She will easily be found not competent. Hecate found her while she was out training some of the dogs. Totally decompensated, dying even."

Chief Director Costa-Brown nodded "Hellhounds. Already glowing reports on them. The three that are in service are apparently Rin Tin Tin and Lassie's love children. Nothing they can't do. Humans may not be smart enough to work with them. All the Directorates watched the ones the police have and want one per trooper so they can tell the troopers what to do. All for the measly price of fifty thousand dollars apiece. A twenty-five-thousand-dollar discount to a troopers basic training and you can pay them in dog biscuits. I guess in this case you do get what you pay for though."

Miss Militia nodded "A biokinetic and biotinker with samples of most known narcotics. At least one high level thinker. At breakfast there was already discussion of keeping those drugs and refining them into better pharmaceuticals. The argument seemed to be that they didn't want to have to store the things and guard them. I expect to see some devices come out that could turn street drugs into useful products, or some creatures that can."

Legend shook his head chuckling "So this training?"

Armsmaster nodded "I believe it would benefit the wards and potentially the Protectorate, but it may cost us Vista."

Alexandria grunted "And a hundred thousand dollars per eleven person squad. That's cheaper than San Diego. Any word who runs it, who the trainers are?"

Ms. Militia nodded "Two Marine Special Operations Command legends. The first female hand to hand combat instructor and a Gunnery Sergeant team leader. Highly decorated, very experienced. Most sources seemed to think he was dead. Then the thinkers watch and suggest things the powers can do. Something about Skitter to, she can find both synergies, and new ways to use powers, and provide the inspiration to have the person try it."

"We are going to observe a session tonight and will have a better idea then. Having watched the team they trained in action, or rather, that trained this way, my recommendation is already to go with the training."

Legend drummed his fingers "Let's do that. Then let's see if we can get the wards on some joint patrols with the Watch. Rebecca, we need some really bright young staff officers and noncommissioned officers to watch how their control center works. Emily, Armsmaster happy for your wards and battle staff to join in."

Emily blinked "Uh, thank you?"

Legend nodded "I'll discuss it with the Watch tomorrow, or later today. Anything else?" Eidolon appeared to be just before exploding. Everyone signed off and Armsmaster turned to a view of the New York Protectorate on one of the screens.

Emily nodded "Yes, Ray Charles could see that discussion had the potential to get violent."

RBW

"Bonesaw is not responsible and may not, in fact, be a little psychopath?" Eidolon demanded. Alexandria sighed. Her double, Mary Louise Redmon, shook her head, completely unpowered but a genius all in her own right, the two, Rebecca and Mary, made a nearly unbeatable team. Normally when Rebecca was available or they didn't have to appear together she was the chief of staff of the Chief Director of the PRT. When she was acting as the Chief Director a little makeup and taking off her blond wig had been foolproof for years.

Legend rolled his eyes "OK David, go kill the rest of them but not Manton, Shatterbird or Bonesaw. Take Manton and Shatterbird to Cauldron. Bring Bonesaw here, no, take her to Brockton Bay, we will get Yamada to look at her."

"Put her in that asylum of Yamada's." Rebecca said.

Legend nodded "Even better."

Eidolon walked to the window and stepped out of it. The others blinked and looked at each other. Legend finally said "He needs professional help."

The two women laughed. Mary turned serious "I think you are right. Soon as well."

RBW

Mark scratched his head "I made it a hundred K so nobody could afford it. Who knew the stupid government would try it. Fuck. I'm going to have to call some guys."

Danny nodded "Yes, I think you are." He laughed as Mark groaned. He had gotten a phone call from the Protectorate. Next, he needed to talk to Thy about this.

RBW

Another clan leader lay smoking on the floor of Lungs office. Oni Lee stood impassively. They should not have lost, even to capes. Especially they should not have lost and have no knowledge of how they lost. This was worrying. What kind of a cape did that?

RBW

Kaiser looked at Victor "Three and a half million dollars' worth of product and gear plus the profits from sales and they have no idea what happened? Capes? What the hell kind of cape can do that? All of that is bad enough, but without the same thing happening to the chinks we would have lost territory!

"Make the patrols on that part of the line between us and the ABB mobile." Kaiser growled "Start thinking of what we are supposed to do about this."

Victor nodded and left the office.


	10. Chapter 10

Reality Bites Worm

2.4

Taylor snuck a hand onto Amy and got a glare "Unless you intend some inappropriate sexual activity for that hand you better draw it back while you can." Taylor pouted at her while the other girls fluttered lashes and sighed ridiculously. They broke soon enough and all laughed.

Dean looked over at the table. Carlos arched a brow at him. He shrugged "She found a new interest I guess. Picking on me isn't as fun as it was."

Dennis waved that off "Two new hotties in the Watch, Athena and Artemis."

Dean looked "Blows my theory. Athena has a bigger rack than any of the girls in this school."

Chris was staring at Dennis's tablet "Nice butt too."

Carlos looked "I think she is older. I wonder where they keep getting them."

RBW

Last period the wards all got text. Carlos met them after school and they watched as the girls who hung out with Vicky got in a SUV and left. Dennis nodded "Sweet ride."

Chris had watched it and looked at the doors when they were opened "Armored too. Belongs to that blond junior."

Carlos nodded "OK, we are getting picked up, we then go suit up and are transported for this training."

Dennis nodded "So the text said, but what kind of training and why wasn't Shadow Stalker on the list?"

Carlos shrugged "Someone has to hang rack on console duty."

RBW

The aircraft landed and Flechete looked around. An industrial area? She shrugged and followed the others off the aircraft led by Legend.

They walked into a truly gigantic, old, brick building. Only six stories tall, still enough to make up part of the skyline in this section of town, but wide and long, with giant double doors. She didn't notice the PRT van loaded with wards pull up behind her and that group follow hers in.

When they got inside they met a medium height dark complected man and a Nordic blond woman. He nodded to Legend and started talking right away "OK time is money. We will divide you into groups of eleven. You guy's job is to get up to the top of this building without using your powers. This light will come on when we are ready for the first group. He pointed to a green light. It will go out when you are on the fourth floor, and come on again when we are ready for the next group. Remember, no powers. Oh, if we catch you cheating, well, you aren't going to like it."

Taylor, upstairs in the building, looked around at her team "Nervous?"

Everyone nodded. Crystal said, "I'm going to pee in my pants."

Amy laughed "Relax, they know less than you do about fighting without powers. You at least know Tai Kwan Do."

Crystal huffed "Which got my ass handed to me by Leslie nine minutes ago."

Taylor spoke up "Look sharp, here they come. HUDs on, commo check."

In the control room the battle staff from New York and Brockton Bay watched as information was relayed to the commander on the ground. Information, not instructions. A lieutenant asked, "Why aren't you telling them what to do?"

Lucy shrugged "They know the mission, they are there and we are here. "Skitter, Dodona two went out the window to the ledge. Our job is collection, collation, and dissemination of information, so the commander on the ground can make decisions. Then we coordinate supporting elements if, and when, they are needed."

Amy chimed in "We do the plans too, at least with input from the team commander, but that phase was earlier. You all weren't here for that."

Taylor moved her people to the edges into the shadows. Eleven wards from New York ran up the ramp and looked at the empty floor. They stopped for a conversation just as the two on the ledge crashed back in the windows. The group stood there looking at each other for a minute, then just as they gathered themselves the Watch fell on them. Five of them were down and in tinker cuffs nearly immediately. The Watch backed off again. The New York group gathered themselves up and the argument started. The leader wasn't, so a girl from Brooklyn stepped in and got them moving. On the next floor, the rest ended up in cuffs. The floor after that half were cuffed together at wrist and ankle. The next floor found them all cuffed in pairs but they were getting into a groove and doing better. It was taking longer to get them cuffed anyway.

The Lieutenant from New York asked, "Why do they keep changing the pairings?"

Amanda responded as Lucy was typing the new pairings into the battle control system so it would be displayed on the HUDs. The wards now had numbers drawn on their faces. "Trying to find battle pairs. We never have one cape operating alone. Once we get this done and we see your guys dispositions and who they work well with, then we can check their powers out and try to synergize that. Shielder with striker, long range with short range, fast with faster, like that."

A Sergeant from Brockton Bay asked, "And those people just watching?"

Lucy, finished now, answered "Instructors. Different skills, Hand to hand, shooting, like that. It's all about building the team, skills don't matter until we get that done and the pairs built. They help with that and are the backup incase the Watch gets overwhelmed. Then we will look at the powers and see what we can dream up for them to try."

Amanda nodded and hit the keys to light the light for Brockton Bays wards with their New York compatriots to get them up to an eleven-person team. Taylor just got her team back down before they left the first floor. Vista was not a happy girl. The boys had tried to protect her and all ended up cuffed. Vista had run and then had to turn around, go back, and get them.

Mark looked at Leslie "Only smart one in the bunch."

Leslie nodded "All they had to do was run up the ramp to the top. I told you powers caused Rambo's."

Mark sighed "Yeah, that and being young and invincible, we will have to break them of that. We'll have the girls kick their asses until they get it. We need those suits from Dragon and a place they can use their powers. Her suits are safe for them to use their powers on. After we beat some humility into them then they can start patrolling."

Leslie arched a brow "Jimmy and the fella's might have to get off their asses. The Girls have patrols. I don't want them worn out."

Legend and Armsmaster sighed. Ms. Militia smiled.

Ten minutes later, as the data was collated, Amy and Taylor went through the Wards and healed them, checking them over and setting their systems to peak health.

They backed off and Mark stepped in front of the wards "OK, good news, well none really. Some for us but none for you guys. Next thing we are going to do is a physical fitness test." Groans went up and Mark laughed "Oh you just think you are groaning now. No powers by the way."

At the end of that, after another check by Amy and Taylor, Dennis looked at them "You didn't test why?"

Taylor laughed "We did it a couple months ago and do one a week to check progress. When we maxed the events out they gave us rucksacks and started putting weights in them. Wait until you have to do the swim test."

While the wards recovered, and the thinkers and instructors conferred, Legend got a chance to talk to the Watch team. "Nice work on your first patrols Ladies."

Vicky smiled "Thanks!"

Legend looked at Taylor "So what are your goals with that type of thing?"

Taylor sighed "Why does everyone ask me?"

Legend deadpanned "You're tallest."

The girls all laughed. "Ok I'll have to take that. Our goal is to make it where normal folks aren't bothered. We actually don't care what the bangers do to each other. We don't like them recruiting, and we don't like them breaking the law backed up by capes. So, we are leveling the playing field. Putting some capes on the laws side.

"The PRT can deal with law breaking capes with the Protectorates help, we are just helping the police the same way, or that is our intention."

Legend nodded "OK. And when Lung gets mad and comes after you?" Taylor smiled at him and batted her eyes. "How did you get Dragons power? I felt that little girl smile and those eyelashes. You know that doesn't work on me." Taylor kept it up. Legend caved "Fine. Stupid evolution. You better be good though. It is going to take me a while to get here. Plus, the E88 is no joke and has female capes."

Taylor nodded "In all seriousness, we are just going to be patrolling for a while and nibbling at the edges as we train. Building pressure. If it gets ugly we foam and run."

Legend nodded "Now that's sensible. So, what are you going to do when Purity swoops in here wanting to join?"

Taylor snorted "Thy is dreaming, that will never-" A bright light shot across the sky and landed in front of the building.

Legend arched a brow "Yes Skitter, you were saying?"

"Shush you. Nobody ever said you were a precog." Taylor pouted at him.

Legend laughed then turned to Purity "Purity, let me introduce you to Skitter, the tactical leader and owner of The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC."

"Hey! Wow, way to throw me under the bus." Taylor barked at Legend.

Purity dialed her light way back "Legend, I wasn't expecting you here."

Lisa snorted "Nobody expects the inquisition."

Legend chuckled "Play nice Tattletale. Purity, our legal eagles have run over the briefs filed in your behalf. We see the merit. As do the PRT lawyers."

Purity paused "Another thing to talk about then. I had to get my lawyer to find out who filed those. So why is the place covered in wards?"

Lisa smiled "Let me tell you a story." She hooked Purity's arm and walked off.

Legend offered "Why do I feel like I should have a beer and that should have started 'There I was'?"

Amy snarked "Or 'no shit man, this really happened'. Come on let's keep an ear on them. Mark, Leslie and their crew of sadist have the wards and Lisa will need to get back over here with Lucy and Amanda."

Legend followed along "So your thinker does the power matching."

Taylor nodded "She is part of the crew that does it. Lucy and Amanda are cape geeks who can dream up a thousand different things for anybody with powers to try in two minutes. Then the poor bastards have to try them. That's after the thousand things they will have to do to test their powers. Tattletale watches that and her power refines what will be possible. She tries to hold the number of new ways to use powers to something reasonable. Hard to do new stuff if you are exhausted."

Legend nodded "Let's not go too far, I might want her to look at mine."

Crystal snorted "New mom, isn't she? Photon Mom and Brandish will have her cornered in a minute and in the Watch in five. The Union has twenty-four-hour day care. And we are listed to provide design services, her being an interior decorator and big hitter would work on both sides."

Tayllor chuckled at the 'we'.

Legend hummed "Interior decorator, really? Wait, design services? Arthur is an architect. If he works with The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC. We can use the daycare, right?"

Rachel cracked "You don't look pregnant." Everyone froze and Legend smiled "All right Hecate. Nice one. No, we were looking into adoption. Taking a kid out of the system." Rachel nodded and smiled.

Taylor shook her head "OK, well, that's the Hecate seal of approval, so how can we help? Need a lawyer? We got one we like to keep busy, or she comes up with plans."

Amy chuckled "Or seduces one of our dads."

Legend smiled "Do tell." Taylor groaned.

Crystal, as it turned out, was right. Brandish and Lady Photon had Purity in a domino mask and off to see the daycare as they came in the Union hall.


	11. Chapter 11

Reality Bites Worm

2.5

The Brockton Bay Wards returned to the PRT building and fell into chairs and sofas relaxing. "OK so that was what they did before they started training. We have our first training day tomorrow. Plus, they still go to school, and patrol at different hours. What the hell? I'm mentally and physically exhausted."

Vista shrugged "They didn't start patrols until they had trained for a month solid Panacea said. Plus, she and Taylor checked us and sped our recovery. A good night's sleep and we will be good to go. Well except for the two a day's Saturday and Sunday. She says that's brutal."

Chris snorted "So, it's been nice knowing you all."

Carlos chuckled "That was the hardest training we have done yet."

Dennis nodded "Did you notice they were gearing up for a patrol. Legend sent the New York Wards back, and he is staying to watch, as are those battle staff people. They have a 'rock drill' at eleven and patrol time of Midnight to three."

Vista nodded "Did you see how much prep went into the patrol. Nobody has ever prepped one of our patrols like that."

Carlos frowned "They were going into Merchant territory, where we don't go."

"Still, no effort is put into ours. We are told by console where to go when we are already out there." Dean replied.

Chris nodded "The HUD's too, and the truck. All of that is Tinker made stuff."

Vista nodded "Ms. Militia had a pair of those Oakley's like New Wave. I bet Armsmaster is linked into their system. Don't take this the wrong way guys but I think I would be better off over there."

Carlos nodded "Plus, girls. And they don't particularly have any concerns about age. We have to do something about our SOP's here. You might be though Missy."

Sophia yelled from the console "Hey Gallant! You are up!"

Dean went to relieve Sophia, she went to her room from the console.

Dennis sighed "Not everyone though."

RBW

Taylor set up the second dealer take down and it was executed flawlessly. Legend watched amazed "OK, this needs to be shown to our wards, we need our wards battle staffs set up like this and we need those HUDs. Too bad about the bugs, maybe we can tink something."

Armsmaster came back over the earpiece on the Protectorate channel "Micro drones. Training first. The equipment won't do anything without that. They learned it without the HUD's and can do it with hand signals if you take them away. If you watch Skitter she gives the hand signals as the information appears in the HUDs. Her HUD may be taking it from her hand signals somehow. Things appear without her talking about them. Eye position sensors perhaps. She has obviously trained hard."

Dragon came up on the channel, she was tied into the Watch's battle control systems now. Lisa was still trying to figure out how to get a switch built so they could cut her out if they needed to. "Plus, we need to work on our Wards ties to law enforcement. I think we need to get our heroes in here, at least one eleven person team per directorate. Mark said they can put together a 'train the trainer' package. It would take six weeks instead of four and raise the price fifty thousand dollars but I believe we would get good return on investment.

"I discussed some special operations training for the Guild with him as well."

Miss Militia snorted "That would get the smaller directorates people all trained. Maybe we could combine the smaller directorates."

"Skitter, Dodona, movement from the Merchant base, some kind of, I don't know what, and lots of people. Camera coon zero one."

An inset appeared in the HUDs. Athena laughed "I know what it is. Dodona designate with Camera coon zero one."

"Athena, Skitter."

"Skitter, Athena, he is in range now and I can give him a spread of foam that will contain them all. My foam isn't PRT standard so it's only going to last a couple of hours but it is as good at containment and breathability."

"OK, go ahead. Dodona, put the brain trust together and see if we should call in the cops or PRT. You make the call Dodona actual."

Legend watched the conference and then Thy when it broke up "Negative Skitter. No illegal activity besides maybe operating an unsafe vehicle. If they have any brains at all they left their stash at home. We might get some illegal weapons though. I'll talk to the police again and we will review the tape. You are clear to engage non-lethally."

Legend nodded "Let's talk with the LEO, we might as well pick the capes up and see what we can get them to admit to. I guarantee there are illegal weapons and that gives us probable cause."

Ms. Militia nodded "And they halved their response time, from two hours to one."

Armsmaster nodded "But the Watch has added capability with the mortars. The warheads are the same as the recoilless rifles. This will be interesting."

Lucy looked at Amanda then said "Skitter, Dodona, we are going to call the leo's in."

They watched as an area of the map on the HUD was colored in purple. Athena checked all their icons and the mortars she had on the truck opened up. The entire crowd of merchants, hillbilly tank and all, disappeared in foam. The last four rounds were probably overkill.

RBW

The girls were home in their beds when the containment foam went up in steam. Skidmark was incoherent aside from the occasional expletive. Armsmaster foamed his head to shut him up and he screamed "Dick" so loud it was heard outside the PRT standard foam. He had three pistols and a knife, all illegal.

Emily, watching in the PRT command center, smiled widely. The little worm would do at least six months for that. They may have broken the back of a cape led gang.

The Mayor got patrols running on the border of ABB territory like he was a gang taking it over as soon as the chief of police told him what was going on. He was going to talk to the DWU about putting up twenty-foot-high fence tomorrow. He couldn't get away with that downtown, but this was city owned or seized property. Hmmm he could sell it to The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC. Then it could generate revenue instead of absorbing it. Yes! Make it cheap and get it off city books too! A dollar an acre even! Hmmm, how to write the requirement that they patrol it? Could he do that? Could they do that? Oh, those big ass dino dogs! They were training the Wards too and could use it for that. Yes, this would be fine. Wait a minute, wasn't there already a proposal for them to buy up most of that? He could just add the rest to that. That would get it all back in revenue production. Sure, not much, but it would improve as the Watch cleared it off and built on it. They had the DWU acting like locust on all the property they owned already. If it wasn't useful it was stripped to bare earth in days.


	12. Chapter 12

Reality Bites Worm

3.0

Dean looked at the girls at the next able over at lunch the next day and blanched. Lisa got out her phone and texted the girls 'Dean knows.'

Taylor texted 'WTF? Vicky?' to the group.

Vicky read it and returned 'Emotion reading. Maybe a person always has the same base emotions?'

'Or base makeup' came from Lisa.

'We will ask him later. Not like it was that hard to figure out and he hasn't outed his friends the wards, so we are probably safe.' Amy sent.

Taylor thought for a minute then her eyes widened 'Shit! I know who all the capes I touch are. Well, if I am near enough.' She texted furiously.

Amy nodded and smiled at her a little sadly. Taylor wrapped her in a hug "No big. I don't really care if you want to know the truth, and wouldn't mask if it wasn't for dad."

Lisa nodded "Not like everyone in our circle doesn't know anyway. Besides most capes can figure out who other capes are. That's why it's all unwritten rules wooo." She waggled her hands raising them beside her face. "Translated 'don't rat people out'."

Taylor nodded "Or that. I don't have enough bugs and rats to keep an eye on everyone. I think I can do the racoons too. I know I can master them. Dogs too if Rachel doesn't freak."

Lisa sighed "We have so got to get you to the zoo. Maybe winter break we can go somewhere warm."

"Are you still cold in the work clothes?" Amy asked.

"No, my civilian clothes. I'm going to start wearing my work bottom layer all the time. Its snuggly warm. Boobs take forever to warm up again once they get cold." Lisa replied and all the girl's brows wrinkled in thought. Those body suits were warm and so soft! It wasn't like they were showing skin in the winter anyway. Plus they had three of them apiece, and they were wearing underwear under them.

RBW

Parian looked at her phone and shrugged. She could easily go see these people, and silk? That was not cheap. As much as she wanted?

She made it through her afternoon classes and went to the student union where she found Sarah Pellam waiting. "Sarah."

"Sabah, and you have your bag. Good let's go."

Parian nodded. She could change in the Yukon. Not like she hadn't done it before. "So, silk."

Sarah smiled in the mirror "Miles and miles of it, special silk."

"Special? While all silk is special, maybe someone is pulling your leg Sarah."

"No. Its spider silk, from black widow spiders. You'll see Sabah. Now when we get there, there will be capes everywhere, wards from Brockton Bay, Boston, and New York, Protectorate capes with them. PRT officers doing some training as well. I don't know how much you know, or how much your power tells you about fabric, but in this case, you can have control from creation to finished cloth."

Parian, now with her doll mask on, asked "And what must I pay for this?"

"Why, the use of your design skills for pay dear." Sarah smiled in the mirror again and Parian huffed. Sarah was being Photon Mom again.

They arrived and Parian was led to a building next to the one with all the people. Sarah led her inside and when her eyes adjusted she gasped. It was a whole spinning mill and weaving shed run by, racoons? Rats? Were those opossum? "They are spinning fabric! Spiders! How is this possible?"

Her power took charge and she was transported. Taylor walked in and saw Sarah smiling. She rolled her eyes. Sarah chuckled "That's wasted in that mask."

"Yeah yeah. Hey, does she know how to make a stretch fabric? We want to wear our under suits all the time. It's cold at school."

Parian sighed "I can draw it for you, the animals and spiders can make it. Knitting rather than weaving. If we get the machines then they can just tend and supply them. It won't have much stretch but it will have at least some give. Enough for you to wear the same size suit through the month. Your bra is too small." Taylor grabbed her boobs and blushed all the way to her chest. Sarah laughed.

Taylor pouted a bit "Not funny. A month ago I was a nothing. Now I got these huge boobs!"

Parian laughed this time "Barely B is not huge. Hmm, undress."

"Ack! How about we show you where your studio is first. Before you have me strip on one of the weaving floors."

"One of? Oh my!"

Parian had to see all four weaving floors and the empty, echoing, production floor before she would go to her studio on the top floor with the huge windows, skylights everywhere, and the open wood floor with sewing machines and cutting tables and oh my, she had to sit.

Taylor put a hand on her arm and checked her over. Then got ordered to strip again. Of course, at that moment the other girls showed up and Parian had them all in panties and bras in seconds. Then she had them in new underwear that fit like a dream seconds after that. Then an underlayer, followed by some refined costumes. "Tch. This will take dye?"

Taylor was still blinking at the sewing machines being operated by Parians power "Uh, Dye? Oh! Maybe. I didn't want to bleach it or dye it. I have some strength testing data and right now our uniforms are fifty caliber proof. Its fire resistant too, but the heat gets a bit much."

Parian nodded "So first some test. I can take some to my university?"

Taylor waved at a bolt and huge spools of thread from single fibers through twine that would lift a midsize car. She and Amy had been busy. "Sure. We are going to want uniforms to sell to the PRT and maybe cape costumes to order. I make some plates." She indicated another table. It had samples of the plates they had made so far. "That increase armor protection. We couldn't test those to failure as we didn't have anything bigger than fifty caliber. If you can draw what you want I can make it."

Parian nodded "How much control do you have of the weavers? If I give you a design can they weave it in one piece?"

Taylor shrugged "If you can make me understand it, I have control down to spider steps. Maybe a tenth of a millimeter."

Parian nodded "We will have to test that too. Other fiber products?"

Taylor nodded "Rope. There is a rope walk and rope twisting? Braiding, making stuff. Anyway, the machines to make rope. It was a port. Twine to hawsers. I was told."

Parian nodded "I will look at this."

Sarah smiled "So send the hiring people to you?"

Parian nodded "Yes please."

Taylor, having talked to Danny about hiring people for years at the dinner table, shook her hand "Welcome aboard."

Parian nodded and the machines, scissors, and cloth kept working. Pieces started landing in front of the girls and they tried them on. They were very much like their old costumes but suddenly, looking at each other, the girls understood why a inhouse designer was better.

The girls gathered up their old costumes laughing and they all went back to training. Sarah went to get the hiring folks to sign Parian up. It didn't appear if Parian was going to leave until she had class again.

RBW

Legend looked at the rock drill and laughed "And why are we taking out Uber and L33t using the Watch and the Spartans?" Flashbang, Manpower, Brandish, Shielder and Lady Photon stood around in full hoplite armor over Parian designed under suits. The Armor was the modified limpet teeth spider silk armor plated with a thin layer of bronze. They had shields and swords but not the spears, though those were available. Their helmets fully concealed their identity and had the HUDs in them. They all had Spartan names.

Sarah smiled "Because multiple personality disorder is fun! You should try it. We can get you some armor."

Legend opened his mouth closed it and then laughed "Fine."

Parian tapped her chin and then subvocalized. The rock drill proceeded and then they waited for Legend to get changed. Some of the seamstresses had shown up loaded with hoplite clothes and armor. Once he showed back up they all loaded in three trucks. Leslie drove one and Mark the other along with Sherrel driving the truck with the Watch aboard.

Camera coons got in place and Rachels dogs were wearing giant spiked collars. Lucy started streaming the video to YouTube when they all got into position at the places they were going to affect entry into the downtown warehouse. The video was focused on the Spartans.

Eric, Shielder, Pliestarcus, looked around, got the go signal, ran at the door and screamed "THIS IS SPARTA!" Just before he leapt and crashed into the door with both feet.

Uber and L33t spun from the huge flatscreen where the new Uber and L33t video they knew nothing about was starting and goggled as Judas and Brutus helped Eric knock the door down. It fell in the building frame and all with a giant crash and camera coons scrambled in to get shots.

Later everyone would swear Uber and L33t just stood there, mouth open, as Leonidas, Mark, Lysander, Neil, and Lycurgus, Legend, ran in and tackled them. Lucy cut the image when Pliestarcus leapt the pile screaming. The video went viral immediately.

Purity had to sit down on the roof looking in the skylight, she was laughing so hard, in her new watch costume.

Mark stood outside grumbling in his hoplite armor. Leslie asked, "What's up Gunny?"

"Freaking skirt! It keeps crawling in my butt!" Leslie cracked up.

RBW

Uber looked at Legend "Uncool man."

Legend smiled "Turnabout is fair play I think. Our video has more hits than any one of yours already. So are you taking the deal or not."

L33t sighed "My stuff blows up a lot. We will be indentured to the Watch forever."

Thy shrugged "Or you can try the prison the Governor has had Toybox working on."

L33t sighed "Where do we sign? How is indentured servitude even legal?"

Carol snorted "It's not. This is a contract saying you will work the Watch until you have paid off your debts and any more you might accrue. If you quit or get fired you will take the remainder of the fifteen to twenty years in prison. That is this plea bargain."

"Having a choice between prison and the Army is illegal!" L33t wasn't giving up yet.

Thy smiled "Good thing we aren't the Army then."

Uber signed the contract and L33t glared then signed. Taylor nodded "OK some Toybox guys will be down here tomorrow to look over some things we have going. They will look at your stuff to see if they can figure out what is wrong with it, and maybe you.

"Uber, you're with Mark and Tattletale. Both of you will train up and participate as necessary with the Spartans."

Uber asked "Why not the Watch?"

Taylor smiled "You don't have the right equipment I'm afraid."

Uber blinked then got it "Oh! Oh man. An all female team. That is so cool!"


	13. Chapter 13

Reality Bites Worm

3.1

Kate drove up to the gate and got a visitor's badge, she didn't know it had a tracker in it. She parked in front of the Union Hall, took her duffle and went in. She was wearing a domino mask. She was shown to a room and changed, then went down the flight of stairs to the ground floor and into the conference room she had been shown.

Thy looked at her "Mouse Protector."

Kate nodded "In the flesh."

Thy nodded "You are a successful independent."

Kate sighed "Ravager, a nemesis, put a hit out on me to the Nine. Eidolon chasing them around is the only thing keeping them from killing me like they did her."

Thy nodded "Any idea why he is chasing them and when he might stop?"

Kate shook her head "No clue."

Thy nodded "I see. OK, let me take you over to the training tower for evaluation and testing. You are in luck, we have a group of ten Protectorate capes just starting this afternoon so you can start your six weeks with them. I think you know Miss Militia." Kate smiled broadly. Thy nodded "This does not mean we are accepting you, but the Watch will get you trained while we decide. We have enquiries in with the Triumvirate."

Hannah looked up as their last member came in and smiled at the distinctive mouse ears on the helmet "Mouse Protector!" She hugged Kate lifting her off her feet.

Kate returned the fierce hug "Miss Militia!"

Leslie cleared her throat "OK catch up on your own time Ladies. The purpose of this exercise is to-"

RBW

Kate lay on a bed in the dorm later "Fucking ouch."

Hannah laughed, Janet, Battery groaned. "What the hell, we tried the logical way."

Kate nodded "Who the fuck were those people? Were they the class in front of us?"

Hannah shook her head "The evaluators and instructors. The class ahead of us was spread out along the first floor waiting. I thought the speed run would work."

Jennifer, Rime, nodded "I did as well. Damn those people hit hard."

Hannah sat up "Hang on a few minutes. Skitter and Panacea will be by to check and optimize us."

"That's what happened to the wards?" Janet asked.

Hannah nodded "They didn't know it at the time, but them laying hands on together lets their powers synergize in you. You will be the best you can be in six weeks. Stronger, faster, your powers will settle if they haven't already."

Jennifer arched a brow "That by itself might be worth the ten K per hero."

Janet turned on her side "Vista is going to switch to the Watch. She and Shadow Stalker nearly came to blows in the ward dayroom."

Hannah sighed "Shadow Stalker was a mistake. Without her we might have had three of the Watch in the wards."

"It's better they stayed out here and dreamed this up. Besides, you know the Protectorate and PRT were gunning for Hecate. All bad information and deception by the local police and PRT contacts of theirs, but still. She is better off out here. And I want a Hellhound. I saw a Hecate walking a beautiful Husky." Jennifer said.

Hannah shook her head "Don't fall in love. Hecate watches us train, and if you ask at the end she matches you to a dog. If she approves of you. The matches take one hundred percent of the time. Then Skitter and Panacea do stuff to the dog."

Kate asked "Stuff?"

"Make it live longer, be healthier, optimize it like they do us. Apparently, if it is going to fight with its partner, they do improvements to it. Subcutaneous armor, increased strength, like that. Those dog's metabolism is amped way up. Somehow their mental capacity increases. The K9 troops and cops swear the dog is the smartest partner they ever had. Then they go back into training for a week. Mostly to show the handler what the dog can do. All of them are bomb, drug, tracking, scout, search and rescue qualified. The dogs are ones in human terms. In dog terms they are tens.

"There was one case of one's handler getting taken down and the dog went full hellhound. It got about thirty feet long. Hecate had to go get it and keep it until the handler was healed by Amy and Skitter." Hannah supplied.

"I heard about that. I thought it was bullshit." Kate replied.

"I can show you the PRT file. Its heavily redacted. The handler triggered because she couldn't save her dog, or so she thought. Brute five." Hannah shrugged and winced. "The pair of them mauled Cricket, Storm Tiger and forty bangers. Cricket and Storm Tiger lived, lots of bangers didn't."

Jennifer nodded slowly. Janet smiled "I can't wait until we get Parian costumes. Supposedly the bras are great."

"Built in to the underlayer I thought?" Jennifer asked.

Kate smiled "Inventory says seven bra and panty sets."

Janet snickered "Bullet proof to .338 Lapua, flame resistant, bra and panty sets."

Jennifer sat up and dug in the packet of paperwork "Holy crap. That's ten thousand dollars of Parian clothes right there. Oh wait, wow, the Protectorate pays for the clothes too." The others laughed and groaned more.

RBW

Taylor drummed her nails on the table. Legend expected sparks, or chips, of the glass covering the table, to fly. "So, Eidolon is attacking the Nine constantly. He has taken them all down, but Bonesaw puts them back together when they wound him enough to escape. Now bounty hunters, capes and normal, are getting in on the action. Hanging at the periphery of his fights with them and trying to pick them off. They have gotten Chuckles, Hatchet Face, and Cherish, whoever the fuck she is."

Legend sighed and nodded "Cherish was a new recruit, we think."

Taylor tossed up her hands and walked off.

RBW

Taylor listened to the alarm and put on a pair of Oakley's. Dragon being in their net was a good thing as well as a mental exercise for Lisa. The other girls followed her lead. The Wards blinked recognizing the Oakley's and got out their own. They were all in the cafeteria for lunch.

Lisa sighed "Simurgh. Madison Wisconsin."

Lucy nodded "What the fuck is she doing though. She isn't singing and she doesn't look like her tampon is sideways like she normally does. The girls wrinkled their noses but still snickered. The Wards looked a little green drawing more snickers. The sirens died and everyone relaxed. Lisa shrugged "Life's so good she wanted to check it out?"

Taylor shrugged as they gathered up their things. "So, Mouse Protector?"

"I see benefit and the Nine are a bit busy, plus they were going to come for us eventually anyway, they always hit powerful teams. Or individual capes. Jack has an inferiority complex or something. We will have to work on some plans for the fuckers though." Lisa shrugged. Then she smiled "The bounty hunters might be crimping his style though. I heard unpowered folks are getting in on the act. Just Joe average with his deer rifle and his friends style of a thing. Somebody added up the dead rewards on them. If you get them all, between the government and private rewards, it's a hundred million dollars."

Lucy smiled "Drop them in the ocean and Skitter can have some real predators introduce themselves."

Vicky nodded "Shatterbird? The real predators might have a little trouble with her."

Amanda sighed "Still working. Polycarbonate instead of glass is as far as I got so far."

Taylor shrugged "That new parcel we bought has an oil refinery on it. I guess we need some chemist."

Lisa gave out hugs "The University has a chemistry department and engineering school." She waved and headed off to class leaving the others thinking about it.

RBW

The other women on the floor were drawn to the laughing and stuck their heads in. Everyone was wearing domino mask. The first floor of the Union Hall was now the women's floor, with open bays accommodating eleven women per bay. The Second floor was the men's with the same kind of arrangement.

Kate looked at the Watch as Skitter and Panacea went around and did their recovery "What happened to 'pain is weakness leaving the body'?"

Taylor laughed "Patrol after two a day training sessions while we were on our periods. Mark and Leslie got a little carried away in zombie land. Oh, you are on with us. Come on over here and let's tune you up before we go to the rock drill."

Kate smiled broadly "So I'm a Watchman now? Yay!"

Vicky grunted "Yeah yay, patrol of Weymouth mall on Christmas eve. I'm going to kill L33t. Those fucking automatronic things hit hard and quick. That last one was so fast my shield hadn't recovered. I had to take that hit on my forearm."

Lisa snorted "That's freaking Uber studying us and then studying how to beat us, oh, hey, he can learn how to make polycarbonate and tell us!"

Kate shook her head "OK, I have to go get in costume."

Amy waved her down. "Sit. Parian is bringing your new one over."

Amanda nodded "We got a whole lot of tinker tech toys for you too. L33t has opened up finally, like Toybox said he should. I don't know if his power was trying to kill him before, but it loves us now, or something. He will have paid off in two years at this rate."

Sherrel nodded "Still can't build it but one time. Dragon can take it apart do the design so humans other than tinkers can figure it out though, Armsmaster optimizes and shrinks it, and then we build it, or she does in the shops with those remotes. It's crazy. We license a lot of the stuff. L33t is designing stuff all the time."

Jennifer stuck her head in and walked in "You are taking Mouse Protector on the Watch? You are all crazier than I thought." She was smiling though. "So Simurgh is enjoying Christmas in Madison and we are all just going to go about our business?"

Hannah walked in behind her "She is just hanging there at twenty-five thousand feet. We can't affect her and she isn't doing anything that anyone can tell. No emission at all. I'm not going to put my life on hold until she gets her panties out of the bunch they are in."

Sherrel huffed "I want to know how she emits nothing and just hangs there. Sure, powers are bullshit, but that's bullshit." The others laughed. Simurgh was emitting something. Frustration for every tinker on the planet.

Sherrel changed the subject "Every idiot who waited too late is going to be at the freaking mall. This is going to be a pain in the ass. How did we draw this shit detail?"

Lucy blushed "We drew cards in ops for it. Hey, at least we don't have border patrol. You know E88 is going to kick off Weinacht with a bang like always."

Hannah chuckled "Calvert's team got it. He was pissed."

Rachel growled "Fuck."

Jennifer nodded "Concur. He needs to retire."

Janet came in "Tell me about it. I'm on ready reaction, we always get called with him. Assault and Triumph as well. Armsmaster is taking the wards around the outside of the fence."

Sherrel shook her head "Maybe the mall ain't so bad. The City side of the fence is fucking awful. I think it got worse as we cleaned our side up."


	14. Chapter 14

Reality Bites Worm

3.2

"I am never coming here again. Why the fuck are they staring? I don't have an inch of skin showing." Athena asked.

Lucy laughed in her earpiece "You all are hot, and Parian needs complimented. Holy shit those costumes look good in the light."

Vicky nodded "Its these armored granny panties."

Lisa wriggled "Which we are wearing outside of our body suits like Aleph comic book retards."

Amy snorted "The armored bustier too. Damn Mouse Protector, nice rack."

Kate grinned "I know right? I mean I was hot before, but Parian has me on fire. We should get her something nice. I like the idea of these plates over vitals for close quarter battle too. We don't have boy problems but getting kicked or punched in the hoohoo still hurts. Armored granny panties are the way to go."

"Close? I got people in arms reach of me on all sides." Taylor said. "If it wasn't for the rats and coons I would have claustrophobia. Hoohoo? Seriously?"

"Fuck, cape eleven o'clock low. Coon three four. Skitter, Dodona, PRT liaison says that's Shadow Stalker."

"Who the fuck goes out in costume when they are off. Hey, wait, she is armed. Is she on mission?" Vicky asked.

Taylor frowned "OK Dodona Coon three four is going to stay on Shadow Stalker. We are Charlie Mike. Phase line orange. Ladies, heads on a swivel. Dodona find out if Shadow Stalker is on a mission."

"What the hell Skitter, are you a precog now? OK, I just got a power feed. A robbery in the Jewelry store two o'clock low. Recon already set. ABB in the crosswalks. Muscle team in front of the Body Shop. Smash and grab, no smash, hold, and take it all. Lots of help around. No capes, I think." Lisa was marking the HUD and new targets were popping up every second.

Sherrel nodded and worked her HUD "Truck backing to the door, knock out and epi's will be inside the mall in five seconds." The truck deployed waldos to open the door to the mall and deploy a tube for the modified hornets to fly down.

Taylor looked at the count "Give me the second wave too Athena. Containment foam launchers ladies. We'll try the knock outs first but if any of them stay up at all foam them. I'll put an epi bug on them all just in case, they will stay even if foamed."

"Skitter, Dodona, mall management notified. LEO enroute. Hellhound two will be the first to arrive."

"Dodona, Hecate, tell Kim I will have Charlotte when she gets in the door. I can coordinate her with Brutus, Judas, and Angelica. I'll be amping all of them. Tattletale are you sure? This is like two hundred targets."

"All units Dodona, two hundred and seven targets. Spartan is enroute. SWAT is enroute. Skitter is scene commander."

"What? What the fuck?"

"You're the tallest Skitter."

"OK that's it. Panacea you are making me shorter than Dianna."

"Fuck that! I don't want it. Roy will lose his mind if we fuck this up." Vicky replied. Roy Christner was the Mayor.

"Dodona, Skitter. Nice job by security. They are holding people from this section. Tell them to keep doing that. What the fuck are these guys waiting on?"

"Contact Oni Lee." Artemis called.

"Bugs now. Foam."

Mouse Protector flexed backwards at the same time as she drew her sword and swept it through Oni Lee. Oni lee pulled his middle back to avoid it bringing his head and shoulders closer to Mouse Protector. She reached over her shoulder with the other hand and touched him. She transported him, then kept it up as she took a knee. Oni Lee appeared to be flickering and leaving piles of ash everywhere. Amy walked to Mouse Protector and waved Taylor over, they put their hands on her cheeks. Oni Lee screamed and fell over. Mouse Protector leapt to her feet and about three vertical feet in the air "Holy fucking shit what was that!" She spun around and then stopped "Good god what a pile of foam. Ack! Dino dogs! Crap! Dino dog slobber. Hecate help!"

The others were laughing so hard they were crying. Amped up Charlotte had run up and was slobbering all over amped up Mouse Protector. The four-way two story intersection where the jewelry store was, was nearly filled with foam.

Taylor finally recovered and sighed "Crap, what a fucking mess."

Sherrel nodded "We are going to need a shitload of acetone."

Amanda came up on the radio "Skitter, Dodona, Watch commander for the Police department enroute. PRT has two squads enroute and the ready reaction force from the Protectorate is enroute."

Taylor sighed "If they would stay in their offices they could watch the video and see more than we saw here. We'll use Watch one as a command center and they can see the video there. Somebody call the Mayor. He is going to want to say something to the press, well if any are left. I think they all just drove up." Skitter was looking out a set of windows at press trucks and cars screeching to a halt in front of one of the sets of doors to the lower level.

Carol said from behind her "I'm on it Skitter, his phone is ringing now. Nice reaction by the way. I don't think any of them got a single shot off. Did you all miss any? Hello Mayor-"

Sarah chimed in "I got the press. Holy shit that is all of them. Radio too!"

Danny keyed up his radio "And a Merry Christmas to all."

"Very funny Union Man."

"Come on Skit, roll with it."

"Legal Eagle has Union Man been drinking?"

"I'm just high on life Skit."

"Oh, fuck me, he has. Somebody tranq Oni Lee please. I'm out of knock outs." Taylor sighed. Dad was in his old Christmas mode. He probably hadn't been drinking. She smiled and got a kind of warm feeling about it.

Shadow Stalker stepped around her and hit him with a tranq bolt from one of her crossbows. "Thank you Shadow Stalker. Battery, I got one of yours here."

"Have her wait there Skitter. We can use her when the foam goes away. I have an earpiece for her. We are walking up the concourse behind you now."

"Battery says wait here Shadow Stalker. Looks like you are going to have to go to work."

Sophia shrugged "It's all good. That was real smooth. That comes from the training you all do huh?" Taylor nodded. Sophia sighed "I fucked up. They don't trust me enough. Maybe when the next group of wards has an opening though."

Taylor contemplated Sophia "Why were you here in costume?"

"I just got off console and one of my friends begged me to come for just a minute to pick up one thing. Three hours ago." Sophia sighed and rolled her eyes.

Taylor laughed. Battery came over and collected Sophia. About the same time the heads of the various organizations involved gathered around Taylor. "Hecate you have the con. Hold the scene until we can do evidence collection. Dodona send a crew with a drum of acetone and sprayers so we can do these a few at a time. I'm going to take these to Watch one one so they can look at the video. Mouse Protector you got my wing."

Taylor got a round of rogers back and moved off with the entourage she had gathered. On the way Mouse Protector said "Hecate because she has control of the next force multiplier."

Taylor nodded and subvocalized "And she is damn good tactically. She probably has the best feel for everyone on the team's capabilities."

"So, the dog slobber bath is hazing?"

Taylor laughed "No. None of us ever got that. Charlotte just likes you. You are built like Kim, her partner. Same live wire personality too. Remind me you two can never be in the same place together."

"Oh! Now I have to meet her. Is she the cop that triggered as a brute? Never mind." Mouse Protector returned, waving herself off a little. "So, the suits are water proof? I mean that was serious bath and I'm not soaked through. I don't think I am even wet anymore.""

Taylor shrugged and let the subject change happen. "Parian. Who knows what they are. We might not even need to be in them other than to hold them up."

"Not so flash as most costumes. I think I like it." Mouse Protector nodded.

Taylor shrugged "The hard armor can be painted. Or plated like the Spartans. We just like the flat dull colors because we can slip into the shadows better. So, Oni Lee tried to cut you."

"Hard too, the fucker. Bet he doesn't try that again. I've been dying to see if that would work. It did but it was taking it out of me. You and Physis amped me right up. I think I gave him the first ever teleporter headache, or the equivalent."

"First time we tried it. We will have to work on it a little. Don't want to explode somebody. Sounded like more than that. He was in some pretty serious pain I think." Taylor grinned.

Mouse Protector smiled viciously "Fuck him."


	15. Chapter 15

Reality Bites Worm

3.3

Taylor woke up in her bed, in her room, with Amy using her for a pillow. She rolled her eyes "Hey, weren't you in that bed over there?"

"Muff, couldn't sleep. Need my pillow."

The front door burst open and a heard of elephants charged upstairs and into her room "Amy get molesting Taylor so you can finish up. Presents!" Vicky was obviously a bit excited.

Taylor looked at all the girls in the room and dropped her head back on the pillow. The Dallon bickering began immediately. Thy came out of Danny's room in a robe and joined the party. Taylor put the pillow over her head. Lisa crawled in the bed with her and snuggled in like Amy had been. Amy turned around and defended her turf. Taylor got up and went to the bathroom. She met her dad in the hall in front of her room "Merry Christmas Dad."

"Merry Christmas Taylor." Danny hugged her. The house went silent. The Hebert's were the center of a group hug moments later. They ate and opened presents at the Hebert's, then at the Dallon's, then the Pellam's and finally the Union hall.

Lucy and Amanda's family joined them at the Union hall. Several walks got taken. On top of the Watch Tower, on the widows walk, Lucy's mother asked "No work today?"

Taylor shrugged "I've got a swarm covering all of the city we don't control. We might have to work, but not unless someone is stupid."

Ai Goh looked at Taylor "We are in Brockton Bay." Taylor sighed and Ai laughed "Show me this silk works of yours. Those costumes look amazing on the PHO."

RBW

Ai was walking with Thy later, separated enough from the others they could talk quietly "An interesting choice."

Thy looked at her a moment "Not racist. Ah, Lucy joining the Watch, of course. I like Danny and Taylor. I hope to do as well raising my daughters as Anne did raising Taylor with Danny's help. Taylor will raise my sons obviously. How could they not fall desperately in love with their older sister the superhero?"

Ai nodded "E88 and ABB?"

Thy chuckled "And I could ask you the same question. I like that the Hebert's are race and colorblind."

"He is very tall." Ai said after a few moments.

"Yes, he is. A genuinely good man as well." Thy replied with a smile.

"So, you know Taylor will grow more and more powerful?" Ai questioned firmly.

"She has great potential, as does this place. I'm not even certain it's her power. I think she just may be one of those people. Indomitable, a good English word." Thy nodded.

"My parents, our parents and families, were originally from the island of Kyushu. We left, as did half of the family, when Lung appeared. It was only a matter of time before the others of the family would need someplace else to be. You do not build permanent homes near a dragon. Now he is here. But I think he is the one who should move this time. Or remember how to be a civilized person."

Thy nodded "There is not much hope of that, but the plan allows him the chance to remember, or to leave."

"So, Amy and Taylor?" Ai asked.

"Neither know what they are. Powers make life difficult. Getting them in the middle of puberty, or during puberty, makes that even more difficult. We will wait and see. It is not a problem for either of them with their biological abilities." Thy shrugged.

"I had not considered that aspect." Ai looked thoughtfully at the two young women.

RBW

Missy watched her parents try to be civil on Christmas and danced on a knife edge to help keep Christmas nice. She was exhausted. Sophia was better but still exhausting. The boys were better but still protective. The Protectorate was better about their patrols and spinning up to speed to try to be as good as the Watch but the Watch was right there. And their door was open. She considered this in the back seat of the car returning to Brockton Bay from her mother's parents in Boston. "I'm leaving the Wards and joining the Watch."

Silence reigned for a moment, just tire noise on the asphalt. Her mother finally turned "They are a combat team Honey."

Missy stilled her tongue, this wasn't Sophia being stupid. "The Protectorate is nearly pure Combat. The Watch are much more interested in getting the maximum possible from their powers in order to help Brockton Bay. If it helps Brockton Bay it is saleable, that's how they support themselves, not through tax dollars. Their patrolling is the same thing. It helps Brockton Bay, they do it as a duty."

"A good thing if you ask me. Both of those things." Her dad offered. She saw her mother reach across and touch his shoulder.

"They're an all female team made of girls my age, with adults in support roles. The Spartans are a mixed team. I think the Spartans are married couples and the boy that is with them is one of their sons. The Spartans do patrol, at more regular hours, but they also back up the Watch and have some heavy hitters. The training in the Wards has gotten better but it's the Watch trainers that are training us." Missy sat back, ammunition expended. She could only wait now.

"And school?" Her mother asked.

Missy nodded "OK, don't tell anyone but, the Wards know who they are. They are all in school and in AP courses, the original group. The older ones are in college courses or being home schooled because of how screwed up their trigger really was. They all get excellent marks and have no intention of not continuing their education. They say it's the cornerstone of understanding and developing abilities. Even the one that's a mom still takes courses online and is one of the most sought-after people in her field."

"Purity, they didn't even bother to rebrand her. They just ran a public relations campaign, and she paid damages in the one case their lawyers couldn't get tossed." Her dad nodded.

"Which was utter bullshit as she leveled a brothel run by the ABB and freed twenty-two girls!" Her mother nearly snapped "She didn't even kill anyone. They should have given her a medal!"

Her dad nodded "That's the way the system works sometimes. Government and politics, what are you going to do? Can we meet them Missy?"

Missy cringed "Uh, I think you have too. All their parents work in cape support."

Her dad frowned "I have my business. Its doing pretty good."

Her mom nodded "But I'm not working. This would get me out of the house and put that MBA my parents paid for to work."

Missy leaned back and watched as her parents had a civil discussion about it for the last twenty minutes on the way home.

The next morning, they were still being civil, and now touchy. Ewwww!

RBW

Dinah Alcott sat on the exam table listlessly with her eyes closed and a stupid sleep mask thing over them to block out the light. At least it was cold. It helped, a little. She heard a voice "Dinah, I'm Amy and this is Taylor. We are going to take a look and see if we can figure out what this is."

Dinah felt two hands on her arm and her headache was gone. She opened her eyes and whipped the mask off "Panacea! So cool!"

The other girl chuckled as Panacea pinked a bit "Well good news, or better news?"

Her father blinked "Uh, isn't there supposed to be bad news in there somewhere."

Taylor chuckled "Nope. We only do good and better news. So, Dinah is a parahuman. Perfectly healthy. Those are thinker headaches, so she is a thinker of some kind. Now, we just need to get our thinker and cape powers specialist to figure out what her powers and their limitations are. If you can come to the Watch Tower at say, three this afternoon, we can knock it out."

Dinah was grinning from ear to ear "Oh hell yeah!"

"Dinah!" Her mother chided while the others laughed.

RBW

Lisa and Rachel looked at the abandoned gas station. Rachel rolled her eyes "Yo, dicks, come out here or I send in the dogs. We just want to talk."

Lisa looked at her "Dicks, as in more than one?"

Rachel nodded "Two. The one we tracked to here and another one."

"We are going to be able to handle this right? I mean Dodona is watching but this is supposed to be a meeting with one guy." Lisa was about to pull the plug on this, they could try again later.

Rachel was confident "We got this. He makes smoke clouds. That won't help him when I amp up fifteen dogs and send them in there. The other one either. Neither are big hitters."

Lisa fretted "Some of the dogs are new. What do we do when Skippy eats one of them like he does everything else."

"Skippy isn't that bad. He'll get over that chewing thing. He is finished teething."

Lisa grunted "Four tractor tires later. I thought Sherrel was going to skin him alive."

Rachel winced. Then chuckled "I can't believe his shit didn't bounce." Grue stepped out with another boy in an outfit that looked like he fell off a ren fair drunk wagon.

"The Watch." Grue said, looking at the two female capes.

Lisa opened her mouth and Rachel beat her to the punch "Pack your shit and get in the truck. You're drafted for the Spartans. Bring your boyfriend."

Grue blinked "What?"

Lisa rolled her eyes. Rachel and Taylor. It must be a master thing. "What Hecate means is we are here with an offer for you to join the Spartans if you can pass training."

Grue was still for a minute "Why?"

Rachel shrugged "You are doing low level criminal shit. We will pick you up on patrol or we can pick you up now. Now is easier because you haven't done too much. If we wait you will be paying off your debt for fifteen to twenty like Uber and L33t."

Regent, the ren fair drop out said "If you can catch us." Lisa moved and a dog as tall as Regent licked his head.

Grue exclaimed "Regent!"

Rachel growled "Next Skippy bites it off. You aren't a good enough master to try me. I felt what you tried with the dogs. You have one minute then It's the Watch Tower or jail." Two PRT trucks slid into the gas station forecourt. Watch two three, which had been sitting there the whole time deployed a sprayer nozzle.

A big PRT Sergeant walked up to Tattletale and Hecate "Problem Ladies?"

Lisa smiled under her mask "No Roberta. These fine gentlemen are joining the Spartans."

Roberta grimaced "You need higher standards Tattletale. That one is ok, but the other one is a little weedy, and what the fuck is he doing wearing a blouse, it is a he, right?"

Regent snapped "This is bullshit! You can't just pressgang people into your teams. It's against the law or something. Give me liberty of give me death eh?"

"Hijack. Has Eidolon killed Cherish yet? Have you heard from her?" Tattletale asked. The PRT troopers muzzles flipped onto Regent. All fifteen dogs began growing.

Regent yelled "This is bullshit!"

"Shut up Regent. Hecate, we have to advise Dodona and the Guild." Tattletale responded.

Hecate nodded "OK. Regent, you are under arrest for murder. We are going to take you into custody and sort this out. As there was a master involved, and we have two of the best criminal and cape lawyers in the world I think you will be OK. If you resist you will be eaten or foamed."

Roberta nodded and subvocalized for a few seconds then told Hecate "You are incident command. Johnson, Howard, secure the prisoner."

"Bullshit!" Regent didn't dare move as four huge dogs were watching him like he was a fork full of meat loaf being waved by a toddler.

Grue finally said "This is bullshit."

Tattletale shrugged "Sorry. Thinker. He gave too many hints and it all fell together. Dragon is reviewing it."

Grue shook his head "His accent? What are you, Thinker yes?"

Roberta laughed as Regent was marched to Watch two three "Thinker, teenage girl, verified. She does know everything."

Rachel rolled her eyes and checked the dogs as they shrank "Get your stuff Grue, let's roll. Thy wants to talk to you about Aisha."

Grue snorted "You can stop I am already convinced."


	16. Chapter 16

Reality Bites Worm

3.4

Dinah looked around at the crowd of girls, well not crowd, eleven wasn't quite a crowd, right? She listened to the instructions, and though sorely tempted, did not run any numbers. The girls had all been told not to ask her any questions, and to let her volunteer information. It was amazing how much that helped.

Mrs. Standard was already working on how to change her schooling so she wasn't asked questions. Both to stop the headaches and to make sure she knew the material, not just ran the numbers on answers. It had been two days. The Watch was the freaking bomb!

The light turned green and the group of girls looked at each other, then Dorothy, a girl who went to Immaculata with her, but in a higher grade, took over and led them to the ramp. They were picking up speed the whole time. It was hard wearing these pads and carrying these weird, giant, cotton swab things. They made it to the next floor, started down it to get to the ramp on the other end and got jumped by people in helmets with giant swabs like theirs. Two minutes of shrieking and screaming left half of them with their hands cuffed in front of themselves.

Kathy, a girl from Clarendon, out on the west edge of town, laughed "Well, we look like retards. Any suggestions anyone?"

Dinah got up "Walk and talk, we are sitting ducks here. Group up and use the sticks to poke them as they come in if they do it again. Let me think a minute and I might have some more."

Dorothy nodded "If you are left handed carry your stick high on the left and stay on the left side."

Going up the switchback ramp Dinah said "Go over to the left wall when we get to the next floor. That puts more of us defending the open side."

In the training control room Mark watched as the trainees shifted, saw the new pattern and advised their forces to compensate "Nice."

The Dragon remote that had taken up residence at the Watch Tower training control room nodded "This is a good crew. They will easily be ready to take over a shift in LA."

Leslie snorted "If they can figure out how to get them to stop posing for pictures out there they will be a huge success." The PRT Captain who was the battle captain for this exercise turned and grinned at her.

Mark laughed "Maybe if they aren't running four patrols in zombie land, a real wards patrol downtown, and an initial exercise they will have time to figure it out."

Dragon nodded "We did pick up training again after cycle break with a bang."

Danny had walked in "Nothing on the Watch Control room. Everyone is working on something. Demolition in the parts of zombie land we aren't using for training, the refinery, steel mill, slaughter house and tannery, the cannery, and getting the wharfs back in shape. The University engineering departments, all those departments, pitches, the plan for the Bay to be checked. It's a bit busy. We had to spilt it into plans and operations. Two separate rooms but they share a lot of resources including people. Mrs. Alcott has been a big help. Mrs. Byron too. Mr. Byron being a chemical engineer made things take off a bit. Steam distillation of sea water for process water, steam, minerals and metals. I didn't even know that was possible. We may have to separate him and L33t though."

Dragon chuckled "Athena and L33t finding all that stuff in those warehouses. It wasn't valuable or portable enough for the merchants to steal and sell for scrap. If we get these portals working for fresh air and exhaust all of that equipment can be used to work on the bay. I wonder why there were a hundred D9 Caterpillars?"

"Oh, that's easy. Rome plow dozers from the Indochina war. There was a company here that bought up old US military equipment to resell overseas back when I first started down here on the docks. They shipped mostly to the Middle East. Then, well, Behemoth. That was kind of the start of the economic downturn for us when they went under. The company was apparently running on a knife edge with loans to buy the equipment in huge lots from the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office and cheap rail freight to ship it here. Cheap freighters and cheap port cost to get it shipped overseas. The six-month delay after Behemoth showed up in Iran put them in bankruptcy. Well, who else would want old used construction equipment? Especially cable blade stuff. Retail sure, but not whole lots at a time. Some guys tried to make it go but the margins on that stuff isn't that high, so receivership, then seized for taxes. Kind of sad really. The owners weren't getting rich and they employed probably a thousand guys. The Watch got that stuff with the real estate. I made sure that was in the contract, property and contents."

Dragon looked at him and you could tell she was arching a brow "Guys that are suddenly getting union cards and checkups from Panacea and Skitter and going back to work, bringing their sons, wives, daughters, and all of their families in. I am beginning to see what Thy likes about you, you crafty white devil."

Danny shrugged "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Leslie shook her head "Plus he is tall." That was Thy's favorite comment about Danny. The whole room cracked up blowing their cover, proving they were eavesdropping.

RBW

Emily Piggot sat in the conference room as the briefers ran through the information. Armsmaster was up right now "The two squads of PRT troops who have completed the Watch course are forty-three-point three percent more efficient than the others. The Protectorate ENE, having now all completed the course, are twenty percent more efficient than in the past, based on ground covered and arrest made. The simulated combat exercises in zombie land are very much improved over the three that we ran before the course. The Wards have tripled in efficiency, and even Shadow Stalker emulates them, tries to use the same techniques, and contribute on patrols. I think we should send her to a course. I would also recommend sending the other PRT squads to the course one at a time. Once we achieve a certain density, and some of the PRT people who have been to the course are promoted, the techniques will naturally propagate across the force."

"My recommendation for the Protectorate is that all members, including the Wards, attend. We have a large enough statistical sample now to verify an improvement in abilities and capability both as individuals and teams."

Emily nodded "Amazing our methods can be improved on so much. It is undeniable however. The wards are a crack unit now, even with Shadow Stalker not having attended Watch training. I have much higher confidence in their abilities to handle anything they run across."

Paul Renick nodded "One has to wonder how they were taught to run away when things got above their level."

Battery chuckled "The same way we were. Those power inhibiting cuffs and getting our asses handed to us. Leslie Hendricks even made Rime lose her cool. The Ice Princess had a complete rage induced meltdown and still got her ass kicked. Leslie wasn't even breathing hard. At some point in the training it happened to all of us. It teaches you your limits. Kind of glad it was only around other women really."

Emily nodded "There has always been evidence that segregated training works better. As long as it is exactly equal. The problem is most organizations can't keep it equal. In the case of the Watch as they are an all-female team, and their organization is built primarily to support females, we will have to guard against males training being neglected."

Emily smiled "Intel showed me some video, Vista seems to have integrated very well into the Watch."

Ms. Militia chuckled "She folded, spindled and mutilated those idiots on the boardwalk. Who exactly did they think they were? And submachineguns? What the hell was that about?"

Emily nodded "We will cover it in current threats. That was Coil making a move to claim the Boardwalk and set up a protection racket. I thought losing Vista would be bad, but as the Watch is glad to do joint patrols with our Wards, Protectorate, or PRT squads that have been through the Watch Tower, it's completely transparent and she has blossomed."

Paul Renick nodded "As long as Physis and Skitter are there to untie the knots she makes of idiots."

Assault nodded "I still hear the screaming. It was so funny but I felt so bad for laughing."

Emily nodded "I suspect she will not tie two male criminals together by their penises after that lecture from Skitter."

Strike team commander Rosalyn Sanchez wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes "I have so wanted to do that to so many of the fucks we have to deal with."

Emily nodded but said "There will be no tying together of subjects. No matter how tempting. Now Paul you have an update on zombie land?"

"The financial juggernaut that is The Watch, Parahuman Services, LLC. really. Actually, zombie land, the training area, is shrinking. It will consist of two square miles of the very worst, most polluted, area in the twelve square mile section containing the boat graveyard, railyard and portion of the docks that the Watch purchased from the city. Never fear, your playground will still be eight hundred square blocks of automatronic nightmare land. Populated by Dragon remotes on their last legs whose next stop is recycling as the watch brings more and more of their modular combat chassis, that you can all blow up or tear apart, on line."

"We should perhaps consider regulations governing how many tinkers are allowed to work on one project."

"All useable to semi useable industrial facilities in the Watch area are being brought up to code and with the help of the university put into production. The DWU is supplying the work force. Training for that workforce, and HR services for the workforce.

"Normally it would take time for a venture of this nature to even break even. The Watch is mining the area for salvage down to used nails from the wooden buildings that have burned down over the years and have a source of crude oil. Which we are all dying to know about Armsmaster?"

Armsmaster sighed "L33t's power is bullshit even for a tinker. The harder the task the better it functions. He can only build it once but Dragon can copy it, eventually in some cases. In this case Skitter asked him to find a source of feedstock for the refinery. His power came up with a device that dropped a shaft to a stratum of sand connected to the ocean where crude oil, washed out of tankers and lost in spills, collects. It then started vibrating at a very low frequency. This stratum, according to the research done by the Brockton Bay University, is the same strata most of the shallow wells in Pennsylvania are in and a lot of the oil sands in the world are connected to. There is evidence that L33t's device is drawing oil from all of the sources attached to that strata as well as from the surface of the seabed and river bottoms. At the rate of ten thousand barrels a day, which is what the refinery can handle.

"There is essentially no waste from the refinery as it has been worked on by two tinkers, the chemistry and engineering departments of the University, and Uber extensively. Even the residual heat is used elsewhere.

"The heavy fuel oil is being used in a generation station owned by the DWU that powers their operations and sells both steam and electricity to Brockton Bay. The tanker and large freighter engines that burn the same fuel which were recovered in salvage operations in the bay are running the steel mills electric arc furnaces which also supply steam for heating to Brocton Bay. The refineries power as well, all of their industrial operations use the same type power supply.

"All of those engines exhaust is processed for chemicals and heat.

"The steel mill is being fed the scrap from the salvage operations in the bay and all those junkyards that were located next to the rail yard.

"The other products from the refinery are sold, or are marketed through those Sinclair stations that are being refurbished as they came with the refinery. That was a bit of a surprise that one of the contract lawyers chanced upon. The city was unhappy as they had sold it to the Watch for a dollar an acre but then the tax lawyers told them how much tax revenue they would generate. The nonfuel products of distillation are either consumed in the chemical factories operation or sold to customers. The dregs are consumed by the asphalt plant. Those tinked paving machines somehow laying pavement even in this weather. The aggregate is the ash from the plasma furnace they have running to consume anything that doesn't have a use. Somehow even contaminated soil is cleaned and the chemicals and contaminates from it used in one of the operations or fed to that plasma furnace."

Paul nodded "Hence the police cars parking in the forecourts of those Sinclair stations. The Watch is the goose that lays the golden eggs in Brockton Bay. MIRIS is, as you can imagine, thrilled out of their minds. No one can even complain as all their workers are hired through the union. They get their steel from recovering scrap from the bay and they clean up oil spilled or dumped along with thousands of other harmful compounds that thing of L33t's sucks out of the ground."

Armsmaster nodded "Salt, and freshwater, from steam distillation of saltwater for the chemical works attached to the refinery along with gold. They also get platinum from the waste separation they are doing in the bay to improve the fishery, so even that actually pays for itself in the end."

Velocity stopped playing with the rubber ball he now carried as a weapon. He could accelerate it and then let it go, even though it only weighed a couple of hundred grains the velocity of it made it hit like a truck. The girls at the Watch Tower had come up with it. "Platinum?"

Aegis answered "Raw rubber, platinum, cellulose, plastics, all kinds of stuff is carried to the bay in storm drains. They have a thing mounted on a D9 that scoops up the sediment and stuff from the bay bottom and separates it all out then transfers the stuff to strong rooms, warehouses, or piles outside. They started at the storm drain outlets into the bay and are working their way through the whole bay. Boston and New York's Port Authorities came to see the devices and set up. The platinum comes from catalytic converters."

Paul nodded "There is discussion over putting the devices in New York and Boston Harbors. The Watch patented them and are not selling licenses."

Emily looked at Armsmaster who sighed "Dragon has an exchange deal and a part time employment deal with the Watch."

Emily snorted "I wonder what her Watch identity will be. A remote in that dark grey digicam would be nearly invisible at night."

"Bia." Armsmaster shrugged.

Groans went up around the table. Emily nodded "Obviously I am going to have to go see Skitter. Before Alexandria turns into Hera and starts patrolling Brockton Bay."

Battery shrugged "Physis and Skitter will bully you into getting healed. They just can't leave it alone. Nag nag nag until you cave. It is good though."

Hannah nodded "It is. I haven't had a single physical issue since. It is a lot easier to concentrate on work."

Challenger nodded "Gave me ten more years at least. All those daily aches and pains cured. A bit disappointing as I was hoping for a boost. I looked back in my old journals and I am back to my peak physically, but I didn't gain anything."

Battery nodded "Mouse Protector said they would boost you if you asked, add armor, all kinds of things, but it's expensive even with them just charging the Medicare rates."

Velocity blinked "There is a Medicare rate for adding armor?"

Paul laughed "When MIRIS figures out they can do it there will be. There are rates for surgical implants and bone grafts now though and that is what Charles is using. Charles is a friend of mine. He manages the medical practice of Skitter and Physis. Have they armored anyone?"

Battery shrugged "The Watch Capes and the Spartans I think. Armored, improved muscles to be faster and stronger, vision, hearing, and sense of smell improved. Brute and thinker three above the norm I would say. Mouse Protector is so fast you can't see her moving."

Hannah nodded "She always had quick reflexes and that crazy flexibility. Now she is just impossible if she gets to close quarters with you."

Emily nodded "And twelve years' experience. She doesn't seem so driven to conflict anymore."

Battery nodded "The training. It helps you focus it. And teaches you there is always someone out there that can kick your ass, so stay in your pair."

Emily nodded "So the trick is to take out one of the pair."

Hannah snorted "And it will rain foam on you. The pairs are never alone and don't operate out of range of their support vehicle. That is beaten into you too. Those things have auto loaded four-point two-inch mortars that can put twelve rounds in a fifty-five-gallon drum from six hundred to six thousand meters in forty seconds."

"Now they have a thing that fires balls, the same diameter as paint balls but foam, or capsaicin, or just solid rubber. Or a mix of the three.

Armsmaster nodded "Athena. She is working on the package for our trucks. The first one is scheduled to test next Monday. There was some delay as we had to get the mortar tubes from the Army and the program manager for mortars got wind of it and sent a team of engineers. They were a bit hypnotized."

Assault nodded "I could see how that could happen." Battery elbowed him. Hard.

Emily nodded and picked up a sheaf of paper "Not by Athena. Well maybe not. They sure do generate email." Everyone chuckled "They want to use her autoloader on one hundred twenty-millimeter mortars. Apparently, hers' is smaller, lighter, consumes less power, attenuates recoil as it uses that to build hydraulic pressure in an accumulator to run either a generator or its fire control, is faster, and more reliable than the one they are evaluating from BAE. BAE is less than amused."

Paul nodded "MIRIS is working the issue with DoD. This is not the first time a tinker has come up with a weapon system that could work for the military. A point in the Watches favor is it was all built here in Brockton Bay, and apparently is ready for mass production at the steel mill and in the attached works. They have all their trucks equipped with them. They cut the bottom off the mortar and replace it with the autoloader that builds the rounds and does fire control."

Emily frowned "How many trucks is that exactly?"

"Fifty-six. They rebuilt them from the ones they found in that surplus company's warehouse. Sort of. Basically, the whole thing is a tinker improved reverse engineered version of that first one that was hand tinked. They are built in the steel mill using union labor or robots. Oh, and Skitters creatures to lay down webbing and that plate material. Slip packs for mission configurations are then built. Ambulance, command and control, assault transport. They rebuilt the other trucks to original specs and sold them to museums and collectors which paid for the Watch trucks." Paul supplied.

Rosalyn snorted "So they got better trucks than us for free."

Armsmaster grimaced "They may have already made money on it and certainly will if the law enforcement and military contracts the parts, and the entire system, are drawing happen. We are catching up as funding allows. Plus, PRT and the Protectorate are evaluating all of the devices and configurations. Their trucks, even if they were manufactured new, are cheaper than ours while being at least as capable and perhaps more so. They are specifically designed for cape support and cape suppression. Nonlethal cape suppression. Though they can scale up to lethal."

"They now have forms for the creatures to lay the body shells into, so really don't need the sheet metal anymore. Which made them eight hundred pounds lighter. They can make the frames, engines, transmissions, all the parts. To a higher specification and at higher quality than they can be found commercially. They are even making the mortar tubes, and the recoilless rifles, lighter and stronger."

Emily nodded "Hopefully the Watch won't have cause to go lethal. Those weapons were originally highly lethal and now they have tinkers looking at them every day."

Paul nodded "Aside from the media circus that would erupt, it might kill the goose that is laying golden eggs. Apparently indiscriminately, and for everyone not a villain or criminal."

Battery asked "One last thing. Mouse Protector joined due to a threat from the Nine. Do we know anything about what is going on with them?"

Emily snorted "Eidolon is still playing capture the flag with them. The bounty hunters are still forming a perimeter around those fights. Plus, the Simurgh just hovers there in low orbit, watching. Fortunately, all of that is just far enough away from normal humans so no one is getting hurt. Except for those people who own property in Madison."

Armsmaster supplied "Simurgh has increased altitude to one hundred fifty thousand feet and is apparently looking toward and following the fight Eidolon is having with the Nine."

Emily sighed "Maybe Eidolon should tag her in and let her have a go at the bastards."


	17. Chapter 17

Reality Bites Worm

4.0

Taylor sat in the cafeteria at Arcadia, closed her eyes, and sighed. Amy nodded and leaned over resting her head on Taylors shoulder.

Dennis looked at them and arched a brow "What's wrong with those two?"

Lucy shrugged "Medical conference. MIRIS wants to know everything they can do so it could be evaluated and added to the Medicare rate books. They don't even know what they can do until they do it. So MIRIS got a bunch of doctors together and they came up with things from medic to God, and are having people flown in for them to test it on. Oh, and some genius from MIRIS got the idea to see what Taylor can master, so a new animal gets flown in every day. Well, people and animals get flown to Boston then brought here. Plus, midterms, patrolling, a gigaflop of projects going on. I swear to god I got a thinker nosebleed yesterday."

Amy automatically reached out and touched her then sat bolt upright. Lucy squealed and bounced in her seat. Amy frowned, touched Amanda and nodded her head. The boys backed away from the table as the words per minute picked up past their comprehension level.

Chris was bent over looking at Lucy. Carlos pulled him up "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out how they bounce like that. I have never seen a guy do that. It must be something anatomically specific to females." Chris looked at him innocently.

Dennis face palmed and then pointed to the other females in the area glaring at him. Chris blushed "Sorry?" He got a chorus of hmphs back. "What did I do?"

Carlos changed the subject "So you all got the letters."

Dean nodded "Battle Royale this summer. Could be cool. Hey, did you see the video Vista sent. Pugli sticks. That's a Marine thing."

Chris shrugged "Gunny Hauser and Sergeant Henley. What else would you expect. What I want to know is will we be teamed up to make a full squad, if so will we get to run through the Watch Tower to shake out the new team or is this going to be a come as you are, last team standing deal."

Carlos nodded "Lets plan for a full squad. If you tink up anything make eleven of them. We can always use them for patrol or whatever."

Dennis added "Sophia will be through basic by then."

Chris grinned "And she will kick your ass harder for staring at her ass."

Dennis rubbed his ribs "Totally worth it. That is a fine ass." The other guys shook their heads. Dennis had it bad for Sophia, on a purely physical level. She of course, was not having it. She didn't only have a fine ass. Dicks were free for nothing in her world. And more trouble than they were worth, at least for now.

RBW

Dinah, Brizo of the Watch, worked through the latest workbook Mrs. Standard had given her and looked up to see her teacher smiling widely at her "What?"

"Child, you are a year ahead. How did none of your teachers recognize how capable you are? Even after we took out the multiple choice so you would quit running the possibilities on them you are still accelerating away from your age group."

RBW

Legend looked at the reports and nodded to himself. A bomb making tinker. One of the students but which one. How to tell? A touch healer could tell, so Panacea or Physis. He snorted, he wasn't an idiot, with Arthur working there and him being there twice a week normally it was obvious Panacea was Physis. His Spartan persona wasn't the only one in the know. The girls were right though. Multiple personality disorder was fun. OK bite the bullet. People were in danger. He set up the conference call.

Skitter opened the call on her HUD after calling the halt. They all melted back into the shadows "Skitter."

"Skitter, Legend, I have Alexandria on the call on my end and Lady Photon on the line on yours. Directors Costa-Brown and Piggot will be joining us shortly. Ah there they are, and Armsmaster, Ms. Militia, Dragon and Narwhal."

Skitter sighed "OK, I don't need to be Tattletale to see this is a biggy, Hecate move us out. Purity cover me please. Audio on the conference call only ladies, we still have a patrol to get through. Dodona make this call come up on my HUD and my audio please. Legend how can the Watch help you?"

"We would like you to go to Cornell."

Tattletale snapped "I fucking knew it. Fucking crazy bomber cunt! Lung calls her Bakuda. No one knows who she is. They want you and Physis to touch students until you find her. Fuck that. The bitch is a tinker not a retard. We don't look like college girls. OK, we load up a swarm of brains send them, then go this weekend. Rosalyn's strike team for PRT, she has the most trained squads. Our vehicles. The Spartans as backup for us and we need a kill order on the crazy bomber."

The conference froze for a second and Skitter said "Hold that thought. Knock out in five."

"Skitter, Athena, contact your seven o'clock, round on the way. Got him."

Dianna came up "They are down."

Hecate added "Mine too. Who the fuck was that back there."

Purity was already rolling the video back "Trainwreck."

Everyone paused "Who, or what the fuck is Trainwreck?" Alexandria asked.

Emily Piggot supplied "Case fifty-three tinker. Independent as far as we know, Some small-time stuff, barley misdemeanor. Mainly pilfering scrapyards to build himself the suit he uses to move around. You want him Watch?"

Physis came up "Skitter give me an epi bug please, I've used all mine. These have taken something to stop the knock out and it is reacting badly."

Lady Photon replied, "Medical team launched."

Athena came in in the clear spot "We could possibly do something with Trainwreck. Get him enough work to pay off his fines, try to get him equipped better to pick up his game some. He makes simple, self-powered machinery now. Steam based. He has some sort of biological heat source. If he can pick up his skills and technique he might be able to do more complex stuff. If it doesn't work he can do his time."

Thy came on "The Prosecutor concurs. He will call the night court judge. Launching a recovery team. Now Legend, back to our Cornell problem."

They were still talking about it when the girls got back to the Union hall and the control room. Skitter summed up "OK we get Rosalyn and her team. She will send drivers and truck commanders, corporal at least, for Athena and Mark to train up tomorrow. Meanwhile the PRT will move a brain swarm and camera coons to Cornell and they can start gathering intel. I will download them Friday when I get in range and Dragon is going to provide retrans so control stays here but Brockton Bay and New York PRT control are in the loop.

"We will bring combat bugs up to the lethal and Director Costa Brown is going to work the kill order issue."

"Vehicle load out as well as PRT loadout will include lethal."

"Narwhal and Dragon will be coming to hold down the Watch Tower along with some capes who have already been through the course. The Protectorate will be adding a strike team to Director Piggot to cover for Rosalyn's strike team. Did I miss anything? Crap this is a lot of moving pieces."

Emily and Rebecca smiled. Emily reminded "We have a planning exercise tomorrow evening and then a rock drill the next evening."

"OK, how do football players do it? Oh yeah, Ready? Break!" She cut her connection took her head gear off and walked in the shower. The girls all grinned at her and she blew them a raspberry. They laughed.

Thy got in as the others stopped chuckling including Rosalyn who had been called in "I like Skitter."

Narwhal nodded "I can't wait to meet her. I've heard of course, but that was spectacular. Even after she handed off to Hecate she functioned effectively as a member of the patrol and we did most of the planning for this Cornell abortion. Of which I am a lot more confident now than when we started this call. A bomb tinker. Who makes bombs with bizarre effects. Grey Boy like effects. Remote kill at range is the way to go."

Rebecca nodded "Those Grey Boy effects will get us the kill order, but leave a hundred and twelve students and faculty from a hundred and twelve different countries trapped in those effects. How did this woman plan that out? It had to be premeditated."

Armsmaster nodded " The chances of it being random are close to zero. It has also made a complicated operation nearly impossible politically, forcing us to risk lives rather than just snipe the bomber or conducting an assault on their hide. If we have to kill her we will do all we can to get them out."

Director Costa Brown nodded on the conference call "Cold comfort to those governments. Lets find whoever this is and try to take them alive."

Danny sighed "I'll talk to Tattletale. She seems to be driving the kill train. Brizo was not so sure for some reason. Any thought been given to giving this girl what she wants?"

Legend sighed "That seems to be the public execution of the entire tenured faculty of the material sciences department."

Danny sighed "Fucking crazy people. Well at least she is a big loud fucking psychopath so we can get on her and take her down quick. Not one Eidolon uses for sparring partners."

Narwhal snorted and looked at Thy "You lucky duck." Thy grinned and rubbed Danny's arm.

Sarah sighed "Brizo's first patrol and it got all interesting."

Dragon laughed "She loved it and the idiots did more damage to themselves with whatever that cocktail they used trying to stop the knock out bugs than we did them."

Alexandria nodded "That needs looked into. Obviously, someone is aware we are trying to synthesize the knockout compound and develop a delivery method. It took Physis and Skitter to save those idiots. That is not something general street scum would have access to."

Armsmaster nodded "Drug tinker. I thought the same thing."

Emily added "Our medical team here has them and we are going over the evidence with the police and joining their investigation into these people."


	18. Chapter 18

Reality Bites Worm

4.1

"Emma, I don't have time! I have to go to the Watch Tower. They are pulling a mission for the Protectorate against a S class threat and we, the Wards, along with some Wards from New York and DWU drivers are pulling their patrols! I have a rock drill. Fuck if I hadn't been a dumbass I could have been a Woman of the Watch! Maybe I still can, but being a superior bitch looking down your nose at everyone, flaunting your wealth and power aren't the way to impress them! You must do good. Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong. I saw that movie! That's what they are, they're knights! That's what they do here in Brockton Bay and they don't ask for a penny for their labors. They patrol in the night so that good people sleep. Now they're riding into battle with their men at arms, the Spartans, and I, we, us Wards, have been asked to protect their stronghold! And I will!"

"What the actual fuck?" Emma looked at Madison and saw the same mad light shining in her eyes that Sophia had. "You bitches have lost your minds. Someone needs to hit you, knock some sense back into you like the rest of that scene."

Eddie Chin got out his cell phone. Nick Vanderwatt did the same thing, though they were yards apart. They hadn't heard the conversation but they knew who Sophia was, and she had just apparently had a falling out with her mouthpiece's daughter. Interesting things like that the bosses wanted to know. Sometimes it even made you a buck or two.

RBW

Victor looked over the reports from all the sources and nodded. The Watch was up to something. Something big. He would need to let Kaiser know even if he wasn't sure what they were doing just yet.

RBW

Jimmy Cho looked at his computer and tried a different set up. The Watch. Cunts, dangerous cunts but still, they were up to something. Last time something they did caught the ABB unaware Jimmy got promoted. He had no intention of Sammy, his second in the clan, getting promoted.

RBW

At one the next afternoon Taylor got wide eyed and Lucy grinned. After class she caught up to Taylor "It worked, didn't it?"

Taylor nodded "It's so freaking weird. It's like there is here and then way far away there is an expanding here but I am looking at it down a tunnel. But if I concentrate." Taylor leaned on the locker next to her for a minute. Lucy arched a brow. Taylor waved vaguely "Dumpster behind a bakery. Half the swarm got a sugar rush. Uh, did we send enough brain bugs for them to do another strip on the way back to here?"

Lucy nodded "They can start anyway. We can send out another crew from here to meet them where they run out and we can put the bugs in between where they put the first ones. Assuming you are trying to get more bandwidth?" Taylor nodded.

RBW

Sophia watched the rock drill with complete and utter concentration. She and the other Brockton Bay wards were joined by six wards from New York. Three lancers and three heavy hitters. A control crew was also present and being coached by two girls from Dodona, the Watch's control crew. A short blond woman and her slightly taller brunette partner were there with Watch two two. A Watch assault truck. It was beautiful. Mortar muzzles just poking above the roof, three to a side. Bulge for the autoloader along the bottom of the body. Turret up top with the long elegant cannon tube and the coaxially mounted sprayer nozzle. And that other coaxially mounted gun. Paintballs but so much more. Range out to six hundred meters where the mortars took over. Big grabby directional military tires. Sophia was in heaven, she also had a raging girl boner. They were going to rock whoever was out there's world.

Flechete grinned at Shadow Stalker "Pretty cool gig huh?" She asked at the end of the briefing as she closed her notebook.

Sophia grinned back "Squeeeee." She actually said it, not did it. The other wards chuckled.

A PRT Sergeant chuckled along with them "All right, come on. The next group has the rock drill area. We are going to the issue building for equipment issue."

Clockblocker asked "Equipment?"

Sophia rolled her eyes "You can't be a Watchman, or Spartan, in white."

Chris blanched "My armor?"

The Sergeant grinned "Digi cam. It sprays on and then you can peel it off once it hardens. You all will get Oakley's too so there may be headgear issues we need to work out. Kid Win, Armsmaster said you should be able to interface the HUD, its Dragon tech with Watch upgrades. The full on dual emitter three D vision package. A technician will synch you all and then these are yours forever so don't break them. They cost about three grand and they won't work for anyone else once they are synched to you without reformatting them and reinstalling the firm wear, so the PRT is buying. Don't ever say we don't get you nice things." She got the laugh she was looking for.

"We have about an hour to play around with the gear and get you in a team after that, maybe two hours, we will see how it goes, and then its nap time for you kiddies followed by breakfast and a four hour patrol. The truck will drop you at school so make sure you pack your civvies, if you have homework get it done before you lay your heads down, but at lights out you sleep or we will dart you." She turned a hip and showed them the tranq pistol on her web gear. "Watch standards are in effect, and we don't have Skitter or Physis to tuck you people in. Yay me, I get to shoot you." She grinned, they moaned.

Flechete asked "Where are the Watch?"

The Sergeant replied, "Over in zombie land, running an eight hundred block sand table."

Dennis whistled "Holy fucking shit. What the hell are they doing, going to LA to kill the TMZ bitches?"

Sergeant Berthod waved them all into a huddle on the third-floor landing in front of the weaving room door "Look, there is a newly triggered Tinker at Cornell university, she, they think it's a she, has already ended the lives of over a hundred people and is trying to get a hundred or so more executed on the playing field. Nobody has seen her. The Watch has ways and skills, so they are going in."

"You guys have to hold the line here. A strike team from here is going in with them and another is coming here to replace them."

"Strike team Delta, they have the most trained squads and Commander Sanchez, she went through the field and C3I course, and made her officers go through." Aegis said immediately.

Sergeant Berthod nodded "Nice, no wonder you are the leader of this mob. Now, Intel doesn't trust the ABB or E88, so two more strike teams, that specialize in quelling shit, are coming in with the team from LA. Kaiser and his idiots, or Lung, get stupid we are ending them. These are great folks, but they aren't nice people. They all intend to go home too."

Flechete frowned "The Watch because they have two Master tens."

Deanna Berthod nodded "And a S class hitter, a former Ward who can make people throw up looking at the shit she does to people, two thinker eight pluses, two healers, one we think is a bio tinker, and a tinker who built all this gear. Including the best assault trucks on the planet. An Alexandria package, whatever the fuck Artemis is, Legend package maybe. That crazy ass Mouse Protector too. I heard Legend and Alexandria are going as well. If Bakuda can beat them we all immigrate to, fuck I don't know where, so it will be our turn to try the bitch."

Sophia nodded "They don't want her dead. They want her to get all those people out of that Grey Boy shit she did. The watch is all women. Maybe they think they will have more success than a mixed team."

Deanna snorted "Like the crazy bitch knows how? Those people are fucked kids let me tell you. As for the watch maybe having more success, maybe but I think its because they can find the crazy bomber bitch remotely. And then take her down without putting a human near her."

Later in the issue facility loft, Sophia watched Parian and Flechete looking at each other and smiled. Then she went back to being amazed at the gear. Including the best underwear she had ever had on.

Later still, after a run in their gear, with some stops to reorganize and move shit to where it worked best, they ran an obstacle course and then went to the Watch Tower.

They climbed to the second floor and blinked at Watch two two sitting there on the floor. There were temporary walls up between the pillars with the central aisle left open. There was wire mesh floor over the hole the elevator normally ran in. It looked like it hinged up out of the way. Deanna smiled "Boys on the left, Girls on the right, one big room, shower and latrine. Capes, domino mask all the time, sorry. We are all in here together for the duration, capes, support, and the PRT Squads backing you up. Trucks two three and two four, my truck, two one, will be up here with two two, your truck, after the drivers and gunners get trained. That's where your driver and gunner are now, doing that training. They are DWU. The other Drivers and truck commanders are PRT. The other end of the floor is control, and a common room. Don't make a mess because we have to clean up behind ourselves. Don't interrupt the folks in control, they are already working. The floors above us have the Protectorate and Guild capes and their support. Then on above them will be those two strike teams we talked about. Trucks use the other end ramps by the way, that's why two two's troop doors are to the man ramps, they back down the center aisle, so stay off the east ramp, no loitering or messing around there, and don't just run out in the center aisle. Look first. I'll walk you to the chow hall in five minutes, after that you are on your own to get back and forth to chow.

Dean sighed "I didn't bring any money."

Deanna smiled "PRT has this one. Chop, chop folks. My belly thinks my throats been cut."

The Wards spluttered and laughed as they ran to the bunk with their name on the end on a piece of masking tape.

Deanna walked to the control room and then came back, and chuckled as Clockblocker got clocked in the helmet by Stalker "Stop looking at my ass."

"I wasn't. I got the patrol route up on the HUD. There is stuff going on on it." Clockblocker said

"Come on troops. Chow time. Yeah, camera coons are already out on your route. Control is already looking at it. Dodona is backing them up but letting them make their own mistakes first." Deanna listened to them all get told how to get the graphics up By Clockblocker and then chuckled as they did the funny walk thing until they got used to it.

Flechete figured out how to subvocalize first and Deanna got that bit of entertainment. Trust kids to figure it out and save an hour of training.

RBW

Danny looked out his office window at the bustling activity. He drummed his fingers on his desk. "Go to Ithaca, find Bakuda." Yeah that sounds easy. The woman, girl? She was still a teenager, is a mad bomber though. A mad bomber who does shit like freeze people in time. "Do we really need to do this?"

Thy leaned on his office door. "Not strictly. No. The Protectorate and PRT could do it alone. At higher risk. We do get some good things from it, not least good will from the Triumvirate. Might be useful if we make a mistake."

Danny nodded "Maybe a crazy bomb tinker too?"

Thy crossed to his desk and sat on it. His eyes flicked to her rear as she lifted it to his desk and she smirked, then dropped the smirk as he looked back at her face. He was so well trained. Annette should be being rewarded wherever she was. "Depends on how crazy. We do get right of first refusal if we have to go catch her."

Danny nodded "And if its a him?"

Thy shrugged "Manpower and Photon mom can deal with him or we chuck his ass to the PRT. We just need to keep a leash on the girls and manage this risk."

"I think managing it from four hundred miles away is just fine. The girls can stay here and Taylor can let the bugs deal with it." Danny decided.

"OK, you tell Skitter." Thy laughed at Danny's horrified stubborn face. The gasped when he pushed her butt off the desk. She was grinning though.


	19. Chapter 19

Reality Bites Worm

4.2

Skitter rolled after the drop, and popped to her feet. She stopped at the whistle. "Fuck this is hard. The campus is fucking enormous."

Physis nodded "Lots of open space too. We don't have our normal cover."

Danny came up on the net "Right now its covered in snow too."

Tattletale grunted "Any more good news? Simurgh is a professor? Behemoth plays on the football team. Leviathan is a cheerleader?"

Artemis laughed "OK, someone is cranky. Let's go eat."

Purity nodded "Good idea. Let's think about this a few minutes and come back to it. We aren't getting anywhere like this, at least not anywhere other than honing our reactions to contact. Which might be the last thing we want to do with a mad bomber." The trucks pulled up and everyone got on one.

When they got to the union hall Purity went and got Aster, her daughter, after she took off her head gear and put on a domino mask. The other girls had made a trip through the bathroom and done the same. The guys from the Spartans were still doing it when they grabbed a table and a high chair. The wards coming in saw them and gravitated to the table next to them. Lucy and Amanda wearing under suits, skirts, boots, and domino mask joined them from control. Everyone knew them in control but it was tradition if you were a cape to have a costume. Besides they would be going through the course and then taking patrols when this crap was over with. Lucy apologized "Sorry. Who knew that many people would be running around with a mad bomber on the lose."

Vicky snorted "Misplaced machismo 'no mad bomber is going to interrupt my life, who left this soda cup here. Oh look I'm frozen in amber' Dumbasses."

Everyone laughed. Taylor waved them down "Its fine. Sit, eat. We will just have to deal. I am still a little unclear on why us though."

Amanda nodded then shook her head "Bugs to find the bomber, maybe to take them down, they want to keep whoever it is to get those people out of the time stopped areas, then if that works maybe they can do the Grey Boy areas. Anyway that means Amy, they aren't sure about your healing, they know Amy is in the top three in the world healer wise. That's in case something goes wrong and their potential asset is injured. They aren't stupid and a lot of them have been around us. They know Amy is Physis, we really haven't worked that hard at the secret identity thing. Just enough to keep it fun really. We should probably tighten that up.

'Anyway, they need a mater, a healer and a good team around them that is well trained. Ta da. Of course since we are affiliated that removed any obstacle to them asking. If we blow it and don't kill her, well the heavy hitters will be there and I guarantee they won't come alone, or without a strike team or two. Worst case, all that combat power swoops in and no more mad bomber. Then its on the diplomats.

Rachel shrugged "Dogs." She had been silently chewing while Amanda laid it out as Dodona saw it.

Taylor frowned "Sorry Hecate, you are going to have to give even me a little more."

"Dogs sniffs bomb if we find one. Dog runs off, Bomb goes off, no one hurt, dog can find her." Rachel shrugged.

Taylor frowned "I hate to risk a dog."

Rachel smiled at her "Not much risk, she is aiming for people."

Lisa, Lucy, and Amanda all rubbed their temples. Dinah nodded "Yep that will work at least once."

Taylor drummed her fingernails "Bugs can smell."

"Dogs do it better." Rachel shrugged "Its what they do."

Amanda nodded "Pack hunters, mostly hunt by scent, some by sight."

Crystal shrugged "Find a bomb is first. We can narrow down the area anyway. Right now, we are doing the whole campus. I doubt a literature student goes to the agriculture campus. Or engineering students to the Arts building."

Purity nodded "They didn't in my day. Start in the engineering area. Materials science will be there. If she has a hate on for all of those professors she at least had class with a few of them. That sort of rules out liberal arts, the other majors that don't do much hard science too."

Danny nodded "No, people pretty much stick to their sections of campus and wherever their core curricula classes are. The student union, library, maybe the local hangouts, but that FBI profile said driven loaner.

Sherrel shrugged "Tinker. Probably true."

Taylor looked at her "How are you feeling?" Sherrel had a had a bit of a breakdown over it being a tinker. She had knocked down five buildings in the boat graveyard with her favorite dozer and eaten a quart of death by chocolate, that ice-cream that is so chocolate it makes guys jaws ache.

Sherrel snorted "Better. Still, every time a tinker goes bad, you know?"

Taylor chuckled ruefully "Yeah, I got it, Master. I don't think I ever heard of a good one."

Amy put her hand on Taylors "Until you Babe. Hecate too though." She nodded at Rachel who smiled. The other girls grinned at Amy being protective of her girls.

Tattletale snorted "Not Regent though. I swear it's like he can't help himself. I can't wait until the weather gets a little better and he is in a suit and in the water."

Thy who had walked up and kissed Danny nodded "The Canadian lawyer we got is making the court see sense. We will put him through the full course and see if that doesn't give him some discipline."

Carol nodded "If he was better and faster with his power I wouldn't have even tried to help him. It takes him so much time to Master people though, they realize he is doing it and someone slaps him in the head. He is only dangerous to loners."

Eric snorted "The girls sure think he is pretty though."

Amanda nodded "He is. Pretty rather than handsome though. If he fixes that attitude he could go far. I blame his parent." She smiled. The others laughed. Yeah, his parent was definitely to blame. Unfortunately, he might never recover from it. There had been some discussion in the womens barracks about stopping it from ever being a problem again.

As they finished dinner Taylor looked at the Wards "Hey guys. Thanks for helping out. Let us know if you need anything."

Aegis nodded and tapped his Oakley's "I have some questions about how you would do this route."

Lucy tapped on a tablet and handed it to Taylor. Taylor walked over and pulled up a chair, the younger Watch all turned their chairs around and scooted closer, the Wards budged up to make room, and Amanda produced enough tablets from her giant grey on grey shoulder bag that the watch could share. The Wards had their Oakleys.

Taylor looked at the route and what their control was pulling from the camera coons. "Wow, not quite a milk run. OK so this is ABB. Its Wednesday so most of them will be sleeping as they have school, university or high school. Not the hard core or the shot callers though. So a few minutes delay, not a free pass. The ones in this part." She drew with her finger "All on the left here. This, over here, is no man's land, the people in the neighborhood don't want the ABB, and the clan that runs the section over on the right parallel to no mans land, has their own problems, because the clan farther to the west and south of them is kind of grabby and mean.

"You don't have to worry about no man's land other than low level, muggers, purse snatchers, pick pockets, homeless folks, like that. Catch the low level if you can, don't invest big in it though, because you are right up against an ABB clan and sometimes they jump funny. Like I said, delay because of a weekday though. If you catch them your control should have a cop to you pretty quick, so zip tie them to a telephone pole or signpost and keep moving. Your control will pull the video and vector the cops.

"Homeless people. Your control has the number to the shelters and they have a pick-up van. You have a healer? No, damn. OK give em a check, you have a medic right? If they are OK let the pick-up van handle them. We carry MRE's to hand out. Keeps them happy and in one place until the pick-up van gets them. Ask your PRT Squad leader. They can check with your Driver and TC if they cant get any of those humanitarian MREs we use. If they aren't OK, evac them to the hospital, Oh no dogs. Crap. Call 911 and get an ambulance. Let your medic do it. That whole area is safe enough for the ambulances now. Ours are augmenting the normal ones so it wasn't a problem for us before, but now any of them can get in there." Lucy made a note on her tablet to have an ambulance link up with the wards patrol and another to be on standby.

"The best thing is to keep moving and doing. It makes it hard for anybody to get set up to do something crazy. Your route already zigs and zags on and across the main route for that purpose. Yeah it looks pretty good.

"Once you get to here, it should calm down. Stay alert though. People can surprise you.

"Hard walk the whole thing, satellite patrolling, you have been through the basic course right? Just to make sure, you as leader with your battle buddy up the main route here, slowly, Own it, not like down the middle of the road with a flare in each hand, but own it. Confidence counts for a lot and will back the uncommitted right off. Of course if you still get a challenge after that take it to them fast and hard. Sort it out when they are restrained on the ground. Apologize if necessary. Everyone else patrolling off to the sides of that main route, eyes peeled. Remember they have to cover more ground than you so be patient. Stay sharp though. Listen to the radio patrol members, don't ask questions, well troubleshooting ones, and no chatter. Hand signals or sign language for chatter, we use American sign language. You guys can start working on it if you don't know it already. That will keep watchers guessing too, most of them.

"OK, so you get a break through there, barring crazy crap, then this is all ex Merchant, contested area the ABB and E88 like to fight over. If you run into a gang fight foam them if you can't handle it. Eleven of you guys and you all have been through the course, you should be able to handle double your throw weight in normal bangers as a guide, unless there is a cape. Identify capes and decide on them, but bump all their number by one for every ten bangers present. My advice, go to the foam. The cops are pretty honest about valuation and inventory. We do full inventory. We don't just take the cash. We actually end up better off but it stretches out accounts receivable to about a thirty-four-day average"

Amanda chimed in "Twenty-eight lately. They got used to processing the paper work we think."

"Dodona speaks, twenty-eight days then. You guys get a stipend though so it should be cool." Taylor smiled "Got it? It's a lot, I know."

Aegis nodded "We normally don't use the provisions of the vigilante act or collect."

Dean snorted "We normally do presence patrols in quiet areas. Nothing to collect. I'll take care of the paperwork. I studied that pretty hard in training. In case I ever got a juicy one."

Flechete nodded "We collect. I'll look at the paperwork with you Gallant. It should be pretty much the same. The real reason we do it is to take resources away from the criminals but it's still a nice bonus. I'll watch this full inventory thing with interest. Right now we keep the cash and split it between all the wards. Its pretty nice walking around money most months. Not exactly rent, not just pizza money."

Dennis nodded "We need to talk to our fearless leaders about better patrol routes."

Vicky laughed "If you use a lot of gear you will barely break even on most of these. That's why we use the big zip ties instead of flexicuffs, like they taught you in the basic course. Much cheaper. it increases the margin and does the same job. The cops are going to take off whatever you put on and use handcuffs anyway. Talk to your PD liaison. Ours started bringing by restraints. That way they don't have to unhook them and hook them up again. They just check them and double lock them."

Crystal nodded "OK your gear is your friend. You can trust it. Don't abuse it though. It didn't turn you into the Hulk or Alexandria, you can't tank everything. Dodge hits like you are in your regular costume. Flyers, spend some time with the HUD on before you go out. Stuff flowing onto it can flow onto it at the exact wrong moment and you do the powerline mambo. Roof runner's same thing."

Rachel offered "This isn't downtown. The buildings aren't new and some of them aren't in good condition. Be prepared for a fall and remember how to fall. Maybe even add a few practice falls to your pre patrol routine. Stretch, do a few tumbles, a few sprints and then if you have a chance and are covered hallway through do it again and drink some water. Ladies you especially, hydration is important. Guys remember the ladies need a minute to pee. The world is not their tree." All the Watch nodded. The adults watching smiled at the Watch regurgitating their training. A lot of that language was from their own training.

Taylor smiled "Thanks for doing this for us guys. We'll be over in zombie land getting tossed off buildings, so if you need us please call. Seriously, please."

Lisa got up and stretched "Maybe even if you don't. Cobblestone, that crap hurts. Do they even have cobblestone in Ithaca?" The Watch all said something to them as they left and the Wards all looked at each other then grinned.

Sophia said "Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong. Knights, I'm telling you."

Dennis nodded "It's possible. Maybe they watch the same movies as you Shadow."

Kid Win sighed "Damn, I didn't ask them about hoverboards."

Flechete and the New York Wards perked up "Hoverboards?"


	20. Chapter 20

Reality Bites Worm

4.3

Skitter was in her element and things were going smoothly now. The campus wasn't crawling with people, there were only a few out and about. The animals and insects were mostly sleeping too. Four of the eight super coons were up and moving though. One of them was right above a single woman who reeked of chemicals. Skitter was running to gunfire as the saying went, and this chemical smelling woman was the loudest gunfire. The Watch paced her easily. She came to where the edge of the three-d building was according to her HUD and waited. The autometronic came around the corner and fell to the throat chop. Skitter bent over it and gave it two more blows. In real life, over in Ithaca, the young woman walked on.

Skitter focused on the super coon and then on imprinting where this tree was on the campus. Day after tomorrow she would help Rachel guide the dogs there. Then the hunt could begin for real.

Danny's voice came up on the radio "Good work, that's all for tonight. Bring it on home."

RBW

Sophia saw the gas station and highlighted it "Pee break Aegis."

Carlos nodded "Half way. We made good time."

Dennis nodded "And three bust. Skitter was right, the secret is to keep moving."

Flechete laughed "And tinker tech surf boards don't hurt."

Deanna walked up "You. Control is going nuts trying to keep up with you. They have a system now though, with one analyst watching each of your channels and posting stuff to the HUDs. The battle captain is updating the information feed. Nice work on the take downs but you guys are going to have some bruises."

"That thing with the homeless people and the MRE's works great. Dodona says your swirl ball lets you find nearly as many as the Watch."

"You mean we missed some? Aegis asked.

Wall, a New York power hitter striker, who's power formed a wall and dropped it on people, said "Swirl Ball?" at the same time.

Sophia nodded tightly "Of course we missed some, we aren't Women of the Watch or Spartans yet. Someone picked them up?"

Deanna laughed "Are you talking to me while you are sitting on the toilet Shadow?"

"Bah, it would have been hovering and no. I'm at the sinks getting back into my snuggly suit." Shadows voice had a smile in it.

Deanna nodded "OK, yes you missed some but Dodona has analyst on twenty-four seven and they are running your video. They are directing the pickups onto them. We will cover it in the after-action review. Experience has taught them where to look. They have names for some of these guys they find them so often.

"Apparently one of the analyst is a diver and says there is a fish that digs through sand in a school and swirls around in a ball like you guys started doing. The analyst actually like it. but they are getting so much data they get behind easy, so you might want to slow your pace along the route and widen your ball, say fifty meters. That should let them, and the analysis programs that are running on the data your HUDs are sending, catch up. The battle captain may send some suggestions to refine it as well. Both for offense and defense, as well as data gathering."

Aegis nodded "And this is?" He waved the bottle.

Deanna had a couple of troopers passing out water bottles "Electrolyte and a carb mix tailored to you from the readouts your HUDs are sending to control. The medic mixed them up when you decided to do a halt."

Sophia sighed "Man we have got to get better in the Protectorate. The Watch thinks of everything."

Flechete shrugged "Keeping the point of the spear sharp."

Deanna laughed "That too, but it's really because the first 'Women of the Watch' as Sophia calls them were all teen girls and their very protective parents were cape support. Between us I talked to Mark and the Spartans aren't the only backup. There are guys in the DWU with special operations backgrounds, they do the training, but they keep their skills sharp and have trucks just in case. What they don't have is less than lethal munitions. If they roll everything that isn't Watch is going to die."

Dennis smiled "And suddenly I am a lot less nervous. Even if that is just rumor control. The thought of Whistler and Sunshine showing up if it really gets bad is comforting."

Dean asked "They do have our IFF right? I've seen those guys with those Barrets." Everyone blinked then chuckled. The two primary shooting instructors liked to shoot skeet with M107s. Looking at them you would never know. They weren't big huge guys. More like Joe average. One looked like the farmer in that painting, Whistler, and the other had apparently never smiled, Sunshine obviously.

RBW

Dennis looked at the girls the next day "Taylor you better be careful. Sophia is in lurve."

Amy growled and everyone looked at her. She pouted a little "I still say it's all an act."

Taylor gave her a one-armed hug. "We'll see. As for her being in love, she can worship from afar all she wants. So how did it go?"

Carlos snorted "Like you didn't get an executive summary."

Taylor grinned and subvocalized shifting the conversation to the HUDs and earpieces "But that's a summary. Who fell off their board, which we may want to license the design for, oh by the way, Chris. Who ball tapped that Nazi? Why is the ABB in such an uproar?"

Dennis chortled "One of the New York wards tried a barrel roll, fortunately, between the building she landed on and her armor, she was good. Flechete kicked that guy so hard it lifted his feet off the ground. I never saw anyone just throw up from pain before. And we might have accidentally helped that weaker clan by swooping in to stop a gang fight, and the designator for the foam being on the other clan's leader and her hanging back. The foam kind of took down most of her clan and the weaker clan got away, well, some of them."

The girls looked at the wards and laughed "And somehow none of that made the PHO. Just your polished five-minute propaganda piece."

Dean sighed "Images propaganda piece. We didn't wear body cameras because of the HUDs. By the way, why are all the cover kids wearing Oakley's?"

Vicky subvocalized back "The school administration pointed out that as we were going to be wearing ours for the duration it would look out of place and might tip someone to your identity. Maybe out clandestine capes too. We need the HUDs right now as things are changing minute to minute and you guys are obviously addicted already, so the PRT bought normal Oakley's for all the cover kids."

Lucy added "You just watch, the stores will sell out of them this afternoon."

Amanda nodded "The cheerleaders are looking a little jealous."

Sophia suddenly came up on the net "This is so freaking cool! Kids here were already wearing knockoffs. Mostly bangers, so I just put on my HUD."

Flechete chimed in "How much range do these things freaking have? I'm in New York."

Lisa asked "Dragon?"

"Yes Tattletale?"

"You are piggybacking their team on the Protectorate network, aren't you?"

"Along with a lot of other teams. Like Skitter said, this is a lot of moving pieces. Oh, speaking of which Skitter, L33t has a device that will take the brain bugs information from you and put it in the battle control computer. We want to try it out after school. We have already tested it on the smart dogs and super coons. It worked but only for the area they control. Which let us calibrate it. We think with it on you it will read them all as you are the control node." Dragon told them bringing quiet then a long conversation on the Watch network. The wards were busy exploring each other's schools on their network so didn't really notice.

Amy finally said "Rachel let you put it on the dogs and the super coons?"

Dragon laughed "After four hours of explanation. She wanted us to put it on her first."


	21. Chapter 21

Reality Bites Worm

4.4

Skitter looked at the metal spider and then at Sherrel. Sherrel shrugged "It works its way under your hair, moves itself to the optimum position, then you don't notice it anymore." She leaned down and parted her hair so Taylor could see the flat metal wires.

Taylor nodded "And all that training stuff you were doing this afternoon was testing it in simulated combat conditions?"

Sherrel huffed "Like I am going to let you take something untested into a fight. I'm the head tinker around here. Any tinker piece of shit goes on my girls it is with my approval."

The Dragon suit next to her nodded "Or she finds out how to deactivate your remotes and paints them hot pink." She gave the impression of glaring at Sherrel somehow.

The girls rolled around laughing. The remote still had lines of hot pink around the joints. It actually looked pretty good. Like piping. Taylor sighed and put the armature on her head. "This looks really stupid, doesn't it?"

The others looked at her with big round eyes and their mouths clamped shut, while shaking their heads. Taylor rolled her eyes at them, she was a bit afraid to move. The sensor array wormed off of the armature and while Taylor made disgusted faces it disappeared into her hair. In a moment, it beeped once and Sherrel removed the armature. Taylor swayed for a moment and then straightened with a look of wonder on her face. Dragon moaned. They all looked at the remote. Dragon said "I suspected, but this confirms it. A biological supercomputer. You are using all the extra, or unused, capacity of every creature you have mastered in a cloud based computer array. Hey! Or, apparently, in your network now. No, no, stay out of there. I need that memory and processing to run the suit. Taylor!" Taylor grinned at Lisa.

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, Thinker one trillion. Leave Dragon's stuff alone, we will build in extra processing and memory. Hmm, maybe redundant, off site, backup arrays."

"Dragon continued "Well this just got much easier. Put bugs on everyone and you can track their movements. If she sets off another bomb we will be able to figure out who she is."

Amy snorted "Or find that chemical smelling girl from last night."

Dragon looked at Amy "You knew she was doing this."

Amy sighed "Don't freak. She can't do it to self-aware animals, including people." Amy didn't even think the 'yet' that she knew was possible with just a bit more tweaking. "We hadn't checked electronic processors as we really haven't had access up to now.

Lisa shrugged "She had to have extra processing for all that signal. We figured it out before Lucy and Amanda triggered even. Though I do wonder if now she could code herself."

Taylor finally got back in the conversation "Ack! No making a tAIlor!" She grinned crazily for a second "Yet. OK the problem is it is winter. My size limit won't let me use tiny bugs and I am not sure I can sneak indoor bugs onto everyone and them survive outside."

Dragon shook her head "This is amazing. Your bionetwork I mean. We might be able to do it without the bugs but it will take longer. You have no limit as each sensor you add comes with built in extra capacity. Do you even need to go to school?"

Taylor laughed "Yes, otherwise it's just data. One of the goals of the super coon program is to get them up to where they can read."

"Brain Cats would be less obvious. And if we modify their pads just a little they can turn pages or work a mouse. Well a little modification to their paws too." Amanda put in her argument again.

Rachel rolled her eyes "Cat people. Dogs can do it too. Plus defend themselves better."

Taylor smiled at the ongoing cats versus dogs argument. She liked the raccoons herself. "Plus I like school. And we have a schedule that works when it isn't a world ending crisis. We have years to figure this stuff out."

Dragon paused "Rachel you do the same with the dogs, don't you?"

Rachel shrugged "Something like it. We can try one of those things since you can copy it. I got better and better at schoolwork and then it reached what Mrs. Standard calls a tipping point. I should be able to go to Arcadia next year and in the same grade and AP classes as the others. I am not playing all this teen drama though."

Vicky snorted "Like we do. I haven't even got a clique anymore."

Amy rolled her eyes "We are most of the girls in AP courses. The others are warming up to us. Some of them we probably want to bring into the Watch. Of course you have a clique. It's just a brain clique. Not the cheerleaders or the jocks."

Lisa nodded "I have a few candidates to. The cheerleaders are mad because we are hogging the Wards."

Amy blinked "What? Vicky is the only one dating one."

Lisa waved airily "Girl shit. They won't approach them because they are afraid of rejection, and the guys, well they are guys. Plus, it must be intimidating to have to cut one out of her herd."

The others nodded then laughed at themselves for nodding. Amanda summed it all up "Stupid hormones."

Vicky tapped her chin "We could set some of them up. Cut down on the drama on both sides." Lucy, Amanda and Lisa perked up.

Taylor sighed "Here we go." Rachel nodded, wondering how boy girl stuff was going to reduce the net amount of drama.

RBW

"Master ten, Thinker ten, Tinker ten. Striker Ten." Alexandria said looking at the tactical screen populated with Skitters data.

Legend shrugged "Mover five, Brute five. Don't think classifying them in this way is helpful, and I believe it obscures the full picture."

Alexandria considered that carefully. With David off playing his stupid games, things between her and Paul could not be allowed to go south. "Could you explain that a bit?"

Legend nodded "She doesn't care about conflict other than ending it in favor of the normal people of Brockton Bay."

Alexandria blinked "Bakuda, and they are all signed up to Endbringer agreements."

"Bakuda is close, potentially Asian, probably even, as the population of the university has lots of Asian people, and Lung is in Brockton Bay. Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Pakistani, Indian, all races and ethnicities. I haven't asked her, but I bet they have a thousand plans for Endbringer events, and are waiting to test them out to see if they can kill them. If one comes to Brockton Bay I think it will regret it. I think the Nine would regret it as well. We might, as she would kill Manton first. The others would then get to try to deal with unpowered things that kill with teeth, claws and venom. Not a few at a time, All of them in her zone of influence at once.

"A zone that has now proved to be able to extend hundreds of miles. In that range are black bears and lynx at least, not to mention badgers, wolverines, dogs, who knows what else that is carnivorous.

"You have to wonder if Crawler would survive passing through a thousand carnivores digestive tracts in small pieces.

"Any threats best bet would be to wait and let her come more into her powers. Then she might forget about the other weapons she has available. Right now, if you threaten Brockton Bay, and thereby her father and friends, she is going to unload on you with everything she has and her power apparently never sleeps. At least we haven't see it do that yet." Legend shrugged. "Then there is Hecate. Dogs, coyotes, wolves, all confirmed to be in her ability. She made that zoo wolf into something the zoologist are convinced was a dire wolf, a dire wolf that could prey on dinosaurs. Our ally doesn't see a path to victory if we oppose Skitter."

Alexandria sighed "I must be getting old."

Legend smiled "Skitter and Physis would love to get their hands on you."

Alexandria shocked him into silence "I think I will go see them." She crowed internally at his shocked face. Sadly, with her physiology, they would probably not be able to help her.

RBW

The Wards got together and trotted in to the rock drill. They had an early patrol today so were a bit pressed for time. The rock drill was now a holographic, scale projection. It was very detailed. Sophia moaned and they all chuckled.

RBW

The analyst of both the Watch and the PRT had had a chance to work on the data pouring in and had winnowed it down to four suspects and gotten their schedules. They looked at social media to find their normal activities and added those. The Watch was going to run take downs against all four in zombie land. Legend proved to be correct. Two of the primary suspects were Asian, a male Pakistani and a Far East Asian of some type. No one was sure about her. Maybe a mixed race student. Anyway, those four fit the profile from the publically available, and not so publicly available once the warrants were approved, data.

RBW

Kaiser looked out the window and then sat behind his desk and looked at the capes of the Empire. "The Wards have started a more hazardous patrolling scheme. They have also been reinforced. The PRT has been reinforced as well."

"The ABB got hit by the wards last night but that appears to have been their own fault. If they had left the wards alone and followed instructions they would all probably be back on the street by now. The prosecutors seem to have the bit between their teeth at this point however, they will be lucky to get away with six months or a year."

Hookwolf shrugged "The wards leave us alone we leave them alone, like always. The PRT is not fucking around though. Foam first and question you while you are in the foam. As for the slants, it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch."

Kaiser nodded "An opportunity presents itself however. The Watch are leaving town. Tomorrow evening."

Hookwolf laughed "The DWU has fifty guys who can shoot and Barret's, not foam sprayers. Oh, never mind the wards and the Protectorate. Even if we just took on the DWU they could hold us off with the Barret's and shred our troops, and they would. Hebert hasn't gone anywhere. Neither is Hauser."

Krieg narrowed his eyes "You have an inside move to the Watch."

Kaiser smiled proudly "You would think so, but Purity has made some astute moves and I am afraid money won't get me as far in the face of Thy Bui and Carol Dallon. The Protectorate and PRT, along with the police department and prosecutors, filing friends of the court briefs very nearly had me only doing supervised visits. It was the legal equivalent of walking into a tail rotor. No, I will have to bide my time there, and with my son as well. He will get over his rebellious years in time.

"By the way I do agree with you Hookwolf. The ABB are a different story however, and having suffered another loss of manpower, even if it was not on the front lines, they should be susceptible to some increased pressure."

Victor nodded "Coil even more so, especially if we can draw him into conflict with the ABB."

Everyone looked at him and Kaiser nodded "Well, don't leave us in suspense Victor."

RBW

Thomas Calvert watched the timelines. He was having to end one regularly and was just treading water in his operations. When this had happened before he had stacked up too many enemies in one place, and so had moved on. Brockton Bay was not supposed to be this hard. Lung was his only real opposition.

He needed more capes, but he wasn't getting them. The Travelers were still balking. Faultline was a possibility, but then someone had bought her. She stayed bought. He understood, a mercenary who didn't stay bought was a villain, and a liability. Their lives were short.

The ABB had lost manpower. Perhaps now was the time to use Lung as a weapon against the E88.


	22. Chapter 22

Reality Bites Worm

4.5

Taylor blinked the spots from in front of her eyes "What the fuck was that?"

Lucy piped up over the network "If I was a mad bomber I would build in a failsafe."

"You would turn yourself into a bomb?" Skitter snorted. "And we detonated her in my face with no warning?"

Amy frowned "Where would you get the surgical skills?"

Amanda answered "Train how you will fight. Tinkers can do anything their project relates too. Or at least anecdotal evidence suggests that. Her skills might not be up to a real surgeon's level, but if her project was implanting someone with a bomb but leaving them alive I bet she could get it done."

Lucy chimed in again "I didn't say it was rational or anything. Plus tough realistic training. Now mark has your reactions as a unit to unexpected events and can do some planning."

After the group groan at giving Mark more fodder for training exercises, Purity offered "But bomb tinker blowing up Cornell. Yeah, I get it. So how do we tell?"

"And, or not set her off?" Mouse Protector asked.

Amy drummed her fingers "We got the epi bugs to read respiration, blood pressure, temperature, or rather feed us that data. But I think Skitter or I are going to have to put a hand on this person."

Danny brought the parents consortium to the conversation "That is not what we signed up for. Find her, knock her out, hand her to the PRT and Protectorate. We didn't sign up for bomb disposal."

Dragon offered "I could take her to a MRI machine."

Vicky concurred "Which they surely have in Ithaca somewhere."

"Which probably would set her off, at least if it was me." Athena tossed in.

Thy came on the radio panting "Or you can come get the design for this thing this crazy white boy is trying to shove up my nose."

Lucy's dry voice clarified "L33t apparently has a solution."

The girls all smiled and the trucks glided to a stop in front of them. They all got on.

Later, Dragon and Sherrel looked at the plan. Sherrel blinked "What the hell? this isn't even that complicated L33t."

"Hey!" He glared at her "I can do elegant!"

Dragon nodded "Clearly annotated. Off the shelf parts, Sherrell's null grav can lift it. Oh, I see, it is going to produce X rays in an unshielded environment. That is how your power thinks it can kill you. Only in a very specific direction though. The patient side is so low powered it might not see through a muscular male."

L33t rolled his eyes "Or maybe it's that the simplest solutions are the best. That theory of Dodona's is just that, a theory. My power isn't trying to kill me."

Lisa nodded "Or we made your power happy with all the extreme crap we have asked for. Bulldozers underwater was a big ask."

L33t nodded "What my power did after that was amazing though, that whole defense system is like wild. The crystal growing machine, all the stuff that went with the towers. Machines to build machines which build other stuff. None of which require maintenance other than replacing parts. And Danny is putting the stuff to work as soon as it gets built. That seems to keep my power happy.

Dragon nodded "OK, these are in build and on the way here. We will test them tomorrow while you are in school ladies."

Legend nodded "So if she has done something that crazy we will do what exactly?"

L33t smiled "Let me show you this little rocket I have."

Alexandria snorted "Anti Simurgh ballistic missile?" She had shown up as they got closer to the event horizon as it were, plus she had brought her teams that were participating from LA

Crystal looked at her "This will never do. Come on. Well take you to Parian and let her give you some Watch style."

"What?"

"We'll fix that eye too. No depth perception and a flyer? That must suck."

"What?" Alexandria followed the girls away.

In Parians loft she was down to panties and bra, tutted at, measured, and in new better fitting panties and bra in minutes. Then, while her clothes were evaluated, Amy and Taylor had her take out her glass eye and lay down on a cutting table. She sat up a few minutes later and a burger and fries was delivered from the cafeteria along with a whole milk milkshake. Parian looked at Amy "You did not change her size?"

"Nope, that's why she is so hungry." Amy smiled.

Parian nodded "Bon we will measure again though. You always fix the Coopers ligaments and strengthen them. I don't even think you know you do it. It changes the shape if not the size of the breast."

Alexandria got stood up, whined a bit when she was separated from her milkshake, got measured again then handed an under suit. "Lycra works fine."

Parian arched a brow "No it doesn't. You have ended up naked in front of cameras several times. By the time this leaves you naked there will be no one alive to film it."

Taylor elbowed Amy as Alexandria wiped her fingers and slid into the body suit. They chuckled at the moan. Alexandria wriggled and announced, "It even works with the underwear."

Parian rolled her eyes "And what is the sense of clothes that do not work together? Now the over suit with the plates."

"Won't plates be heavy, wow! OK so they are there but they fit and move with me." Alexandria was smiling in her gray on darker gray uniform. Parian nodded and sent her behind a screen to try on a helmet made like the plates. "Oh, this is nice!"

The girls were rolling, silently laughing at the expressions Parian was projecting through her doll mask, somehow. She gave them a few expressions too. "Good we will have the technicians transfer your electronics and visor. Here, you can wear this mask for the hour or so it will take." A Dragon remote took the two helmets over to a bench.

Alexandria turned in front of a mirror and another burger, this time with onion rings, and shake, was delivered. "So no cape? Why am I so hungry?"

Vicky shrugged "I wouldn't wear a cape, but it's a fashion choice, yours will work with this. We could do one for you if you wanted but they aren't cheap and in a fight it's just going to get lost"

Amy supplied "We optimized you. The first few hours are the worst, really we set your system to optimize you, eat all you want, especially fattening bad for you food. Fried, ice-cream, rare red meat, all of that, go nuts. Then in a week start slowing down. In two back to a normal diet and we will adjust you, or rather Dragons program she is adding to your visor will give suggestions. Put it on for at least an hour a day so it can read you."

"Or you will not fit the under suit." Parian added.

Alexandria looked in the mirror again "This is what Image always meant. Can you train seamstresses Parian?"

Parian shrugged "I don't see why not, but the material all comes from us. Including the thread."

Alexandra nodded "I think I might like to try a cape of this."

RBW

Carlos looked at the HUD and groaned "You have got to be kidding." He was looking at a group of unpowered ABB, Empire and Merchants having a fight club, or something, in a empty lot or parking lot off to the side of the approach to the Boardwalk patrol route.

"Aegis, control, they seem to be enjoying themselves and no weapons are involved. No civilians in the area. PD and PRT liaisons concur that you can just let them duke it out. PD is installing a cordon and will pick them up when they tire themselves out. You are free to continue your patrol on the Boardwalk then back down Lord Street. Smile and wave Wards, smile and wave."

"Control, Aegis, thanks awfully." Carlos turned his head "Shadow? You hate presence patrols." She was nearly vibrating in excitement.

Shadow Stalker shrugged "I didn't see the sense in them before. Now I do. We need to be seen being Knights. As an example."

Wall chuckled "If you try to get Skitter canonized she is probably going to do something ugly to you."

Flechete looked at Sophia who had a surprised look on her face or was emoting surprise under her full face mask "No. You aren't even catholic." They came onto the boardwalk, and into the crowd there.

Shadow stepped to the side of her and shot a guy with a tranq bolt just as he grabbed a lady's purse. He got three steeps and then piled into a trashcan. "Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong." She recited. Loudly.

Dennis intoned "And thus concludes our reading from the Book of Skitter. Go about your business citizens." in a stentorious voice.

Flechete groaned and subvocalized "Those people were recording!"

Clockblocker nodded "I know. We need to tell the Watch, they can merchandise that and Shadow can get a royalty."

"Ward patrol Dodona, Done! Shadow Stalker report to the Union Hall when you return to base."

Carlos hissed at Dennis "I told you they watch everything."

"Ward patrol, PRT Control, PD enroute."

"Control, Aegis, roger we are charlie mike on route showoff." Dean and Chris had stood the perp up and zip tied him to a light pole. People were clapping.

In the Watch Control room Sarah laughed. "Route Showoff. Good name for it." She smirked as it appeared on the tactical display. The light post the perp was zip tied to became TRP Pulpit. It stopped there, for now.

Parian looked at the PHO alert and found a nice charcoal silk. She made a hoodie out of the heavy ballistic silk and had Sophia's oath on it, front and back, under an illuminated W, with black silk embroidery in a nice handwriting font. She sent it to the New Wave store front with a price tag of two hundred dollars. The second shift seamstresses and cutters laughed and got her making all different sizes. Some of them had a tiny pink rose in the center top of the W and were fitted for females. Those were lined as well. The PHO saw the first one be put up on a life-size cardboard cutout of Vicky in the New wave store front window. It lasted just long enough for the others to begin arriving. Then the one with the rose went on the cardboard Vicky and a line formed.

Seamstresses got a wage and paid for piece work. They knew a new to them car when they saw one. Parian was pleased but a bit amazed.

RBW

Vicky looked around at lunch the next day "Are we the only ones in here without Watch hoodies? How is that fair?"

Taylor growled "Sophia! I still want to stuff her in a locker."

Lucy blanched "Please god no. She will trigger again and be Jeanne d'Arc."

The girls looked at each other and howled with laughter. Amy finally calmed enough to talk, "Mom got a call from the storefront. There was a line outside it all night. The DWU sent over some guys to set up those big kerosene heaters and pass out soup and coffee. The second and third shift in Parians sweat shop turned out thousands of those. Advantage is they are the ballistic silk, so bullet and stab proof. Sophia gets a royalty of a buck each and the Watch clears about a hundred and thirty bucks on each one."

"All this while we were sleeping?" Taylor asked.

"The line is apparently still there."

Amy nodded snickering "The line is apparently still there." Vicky pointed at the Wards coming in slowly and looking around. This of course set the girls off laughing again.

Dennis snorted "Laugh it up funny girls. We are going to have to buy those to keep our cover."

Taylor got a text on her HUD from Vista "Ha! Vista's middle school too."

Vicky nodded "Crystal at the University as well. This is crazy. We'll talk to Parian guys, maybe we can get them for cost."

Lisa nodded "Already on it. Oh, that explains it. She put the price on it to keep people from buying it so it would stay in the window. So, it was going viral and was expensive but available, plus, a Parian piece of real Watch gear."

One of Vicky's older friends sat next to her "OK so you were first with the cool shades, but I am first with the Watch Jacket. This thing is amazing too. I want to sleep in it but its silk. Feel how soft!"

Vicky smiled "I know, our new uniforms are this stuff," She was out to this girl for certain, really the Watch wasn't really good at secret identities. "Well finer material, but the same stuff. This is the outer layer material. It's pretty good, bullet proof, stab proof, fire resistant." She flipped up the bottom and looked at the tag on the inside seam. It had a hand-written number from the roll of material and inspectors initials on it "Yep certified. Follow the care instructions and it should last you years."

They all winced as the squeal started and went up the register past where dogs could hear. Taylor reached over and adjusted the girl's hormones before she passed out. She leapt up and raced to her friends and showed them the tags. They all flipped the bottoms of their hoodies up and read the tags then got in a squealing, jumping, group hug.

Amanda looked at the wards "Not one word."

Chris shook his head "Wasn't even thinking about it."

Lisa shook her head "Something about this is going to go horribly wrong."


	23. Chapter 23

Reality Bites Worm

5.0

The girls left school and made it to the Union hall, where they dashed upstairs, and grabbed their duffels. A round of hugs, they tossed their bags in the trucks they were riding of the convoy Sherrel and Purity had organized while they were at school, then they were on the road. Eric had done the same and hopped in one of the Spartan trucks. Danny watched the circus smiling. It was like they were going to summer camp, these buses meant business though.

About an hour into the ride a thought occurred to Taylor "Where is our first fuel stop?"

Sherrel replied on the Watch private channel "Bathroom break more like Taylor. Armsmaster looked at these after I got through redesigning that engine. I'm not sure they will ever need refueled on a mission."

Taylor blinked "Seriously?"

Sherrel shrugged "Not between here and Ithaca for sure. Not at this weight anyway. Two-hundred-and-fifty-gallon total capacity fuel cells might have been a bit much. Before Mr. Efficiency got a hold of them it would have been twenty-four hours of fuel, after? I don't even know anymore. Though we did have to add a water tank and water injection. They run pretty lean. We can fuel at the PRT base in Ithaca. Its's an old National guard armory, one of those ones with a big open floor. The convoy will pull straight in there."

"Skitter, Dodona, the convoy route and all control measures are up on the tactical display. If you zoom out on your HUD you will see the stop. It's being secured by the New York National Guard and State Troopers, who are also doing route security. Also all the class one, three, five, and nine are being covered by the PRT and Protectorate. They have our list and will resupply you when we request it. We have guys standing by here to hotshot parts for vehicles and weapons."

"Thanks Union Man. Love you."

There was a chorus of awws. Taylor blushed a little. "So, Albany is the stop then."

"Yep, Another armory. The Governor is having caterers set up. The menu looks good. Five star rated caterer. State Capitol, go figure, tax dollars at work. Anyway, stretch your legs, get some class one, the crews will check the trucks and everybody can potty and get back on the road. You guys are making great time so probably about another hour. The State Patrols are controlling access to the highway in a kind of moving bubble so you should have clear sailing. From the chatter on their nets they are loving doing escort at a hundred miles an hour. Take a nap Skitter. We got this for now. Oh, and to stop the discussion, for another hundred dollar bill the bad guys can buy plate armor now. If they don't just steal it somewhere. Mark tells me really good plate armor, so the kids having bullet proof hoodies just evens the battlefield."

"OK Union Man. Later." Taylor smiled, she knew about the armor already. It had come up in a couple of conversations at home when it turned out her silk was better than Kevlar. She looked at the tactical display and played with it a while, and then did take a nap.

Captain Sanchez, call sign Alpha Strike shook her head. The military trainers were really starting to show in the Watch procedures. Class one for food, class three, fuel and oil, class five, ammunition, and class nine, repair parts. They already reported their status in colors, green, amber, red, and black. If they started calling in nine lines for medevac someone was going to have a flashback and go all Iraq all the time. She would have to talk to her troopers and keep an eye on the vehicle crews, they were all ex military. Not the hardcore Delta and Special Forces Operators in that team of Farmer and Sunshine's but still, none of that shit in Iraq had been easy.

Later, Amy smiled and put her hand on Skitter as they slowed and then left the interstate. She brought her up to a wide awake level fairly quickly and Taylor made kissy motions at her. She pinked and slapped her shoulder gently. Taylor sat up hugged her with one arm and put the tactical display through its paces so fast the rest couldn't follow it. She also read all the message traffic "The wards got in a fight."

Crystal laughed "Big one. They are fine and a bit too cocky. We will have to slap them around when we get back. Somebody attacked that ABB area that clan got taken out in. It looks like Coils Mercs. As you can imagine the ABB objected. The wards went all 'Safeguard the helpless' and were moving people out of the way of the fight and the ABB got a bit indiscriminate. Foam city. Ammunition expended. Deanna was not having her Wards engaged. She foamed four city blocks."

"So that winds down and twelve ABB bangers get carted off to jail. The wards get off patrol and are down at Fugly Bobs when the Protectorate patrol runs into the same kind of thing. The bangers leave the Wards alone mostly. Not so much the Protectorate.

"That one drags in the ready reaction force, PD, and the other patrols. Eventually including the now rearmed resupplied wards patrol.

"Lung apparently has a fit with a hole in it and burns down the area around his casino. The Wards, Protectorate and PRT are making sure he stays on ground he owns, and moving people out of the way. Mainly by building walls of containment foam with mortars and shooting him with recoilless rifles when he tries to fly They went to the HE, at least in areas he has already burned. They have him hemmed in a eight block perimeter surrounding his casino.

"Casualties are amazingly light, Othala is healing them and the freaking Empire is cooperating. Personally, I think that is what is keeping Lung amped up. The Twins and Hookwolf keep having goes at him."

Taylor snorted "OK, a little lurid, bizarre, something. All in a couple hours? Holy crap. He isn't burning it down so much as lighting it on fire. Air tankers?"

Vista sat up on the pile of duffle bags she was laid on "Director Piggot, she brought them in. It's really canvas buckets with rope operated valves that helicopters can lift. They get water from the bay. What the hell is this I'm lying on? Kate! Your damn sword is trying to pop my cherry!"

Kate grinned "A stiff-" She was shouted down and everyone got a laugh.

The truck stopped and they put mask on, moved the duffle bags out of the way, and opened the troop door in the back ramp. The trucks weren't designed for extended patrolling. Or maybe hauling all the Watch's week worth of gear apiece. Sherrel was mumbling about autonomous trailers. They climbed down and stretched and then noticed the Governor and his entourage. Lisa said "Showtime!" Skitter glared at her.

They finally got back on the road and Taylor sighed "What the actual fuck?"

Legend, in another truck, He and Alexandria had joined them there, Skitter was grateful, they had distracted the governor, came over the earplug "You did great, all of you."

Lisa replied dryly "Life ring for a drowning man."

Alexandria using the right screen in Legends command truck, while riding along, laughed "Yes. He is between a rock and the voters. Let this be a lesson, don't go into politics."

Legend asked "And you didn't tell me this twenty years ago why exactly?"

"I was young and idealistic too?" Alexandria returned.

Taylor grinned "OK you two. Let's see what we have here and maybe find Ms. Bakuda. Then we can do a wine trail tomorrow and head home."

An hour later they were no closer than their four suspects. When they pulled into the armory in Ithaca they were still working. The support crew and PRT set up security as they worked. Danny finally pulled the plug after midnight. "Skitter bed. You have super coons on them. You all have figured out the routes around campus, to include through the buildings, now we have to wait. The coons and bugs will fill in the rest of the data."

Taylor thought about it and nodded. She followed the guide to the room they were using for the girls, and everyone else wrapped up and followed. In most cases a Dodona operator picked up remotely where they had left off. Taylor stretched "I am exhausted. Like we just did a border patrol."

Alexandria had called it a night too and nodded "That was a lot of work. They have a football game scheduled tomorrow. She will come out to set up bombs in the stadium, we will have a lock on her then."

At five o'clock in the morning Alexandria woke Taylor up. "Told you. We got her."

Taylor sat up and stretched "OK. let's take this bitch down."

"Breakfast then planning. She was apparently up all night planning and prepping her big show for the home game. Armsmaster and Dragon are in the stadium neutralizing her bombs. She is sleeping." Alexandria declared.

Taylor frowned and Lisa supplied "Dorm full of other students."

Taylor grimaced "Probably bombs all over it. This fucking bitch is pissing me off." Alexandria nodded.

RBW

"OK so evac it. I am working knock outs in there, and we will take her while she is asleep."

Legend nodded "In progress, cops in plain clothes doing a room at a time. An hour until we are finished."

Rachel wrinkled her nose "Stinks." She and the dogs had been out and about for a while. The Dogs had tracked the bomber right to her dorm door confirming what the coons had already found.

Legend chuckled "Well it is a dorm."

Dragon nodded and spoke up in the net "The bombs have been removed from where they were, seats and all. She has antihandlers on everything. We have HD video of her installing it all after she time stop grenaded the guards, and we still can't disarm the things. Right now the bombs are in a field separated and under guard. Armsmaster is working on them with a remote of mine."

"L33t work your snitches up to her room door. Dragon do you have a suit you wouldn't mind losing to open the door? What I think is that we open up her room, after a knockout, and scan her. If she is loaded I can just keep her down until we figure it out." Taylor shrugged "I have no idea of how to make her talk so we can get those people out of those effects."

Legend and Alexandria turned to Amy, she huffed "There is no truth serum. We can make her more amenable, lower her inhibitions, or both, but do we really want to do that? No telling what she will do, and we have no idea how she is setting the bombs off."

L33t had an objection "Let me scan the door, and the bomb squad here has to have a probe camera. We can drill the door and check it before we open it. I'll talk to them."

Alexandria nodded "Let me make some calls. She hasn't killed anyone, technically, if she can get those people out of those effects we can probably put her somewhere with some pretty heavy restrictions and do OK. Pretty nice carrot there. We might have to go to an enhanced interrogation as the stick but I think we have to have the bombs out of her first whatever we do. If she has actually put any in herself."

Taylor nodded "Thirty minutes, or she starts to wake up, and I hit her with a knock out no matter what. It shouldn't change anything from a sleep state so it shouldn't set anything off. Get the rooms above hers evacuated first. If she shows signs of waking up I am going to drop her no matter what." L33t had maneuvered a video snitch to look into her window. Bakuda was in plain view on her bed.

Rachel nodded to the drivers and PRT squad leaders "Let's talk perimeter folks"

RBW

The inch-long hornet settled beside its specialized sister on the forearm of the half Japanese girl and slipped its stinger in her. It dumped its entire store of the specialized knock out combination the girls had come up with. The epi bug, a mark two if you will, kept its stinger inserted to check blood chemistry and pressure but didn't inject anything. Other than the local that made the stinger being in a vein painless.

Taylor shook her head "I can't tell."

Amy nodded "I can't either. Perfectly normal, well other than malnourished and dehydrated, twenty something female. Who isn't on the pill by the way."

Purity snorted "Foolish."

Rachel said "Perimeter set. People are seeing, Cameras already out."

Dragon nodded "Somebody streamed it live. I'm taking the controls off the PHO. They will probably crash it. We will leave it crashed. The livestream went to YouTube. It's a drone. I am jamming its signal now but I can't do anything about YouTube."

Legend sighed "I'm on it. They know they can't fly over PRT operations."

Alexandria sighed "I hate those things."

Crystal came up on the net "The police robot is drilling the door. This thing is cool. We need a couple of these."

Kate nodded "Fast too, camera in. Crap. Send in another bug Taylor, we are going to be here a while. This door is wired every kind of way. Dragon is going to have to look at this. Armsmaster as well."

Taylor drummed her nails on the arm of her costume where she had her arms folded across her chest "Vista, can you cramp space between the door and the window? If it isn't wired we can use the robot to open it and send in the snitches."

Missy snorted "Over a tv camera? OK I'll give it a shot. Holy fuck that worked."

"Not wired and open, we owe Sergeant Blake a beer. she thinks fast. She is also the fastest draw in the east with that grappler thing she has." Kate had a smile in her voice.

Missy let go and had to take a knee. Purity was next to her in seconds and Amy had a hand on her neck shortly after that "OK time for a nap for you Vista. Medic, I need an IV set up here. Let's push some glucose. Some electrolytes too. She will be fine. Give her a half a liter wide open but don't squeeze it."

Four PRT troopers with a litter showed up along with two medics. A squad took up position around them facing out and they all pulled back to an assault truck. A truck with a medic slip pack in it ghosted up beside the assault truck soundlessly.

Taylor nodded "OK, we won't try that again until we practice it some more. L33t how we doing on the scan?"

L33t announced "Scanning. Signal lag, but we knew that. OK, should be coming up on your HUD."

There was a pause then Amy snorted "Why have one bomb when you can have nine. Tinkers."

L33t sounded a bit awed "Holy crap. This is going to take a while."

Taylor nodded "How the fuck did she do this? OK, let's have the bomb squad keep working on the door. This will take some time. L33t keep scanning. Is there an office we can use and maybe get a good general and neuro surgeon in here?"

Amy nodded and highlighted a section "Ortho too."

Kate shuddered "Is that in her thigh bone? What the fuck?"

Lucy piped up "Told you. Tinkers, am I right?"

Taylor sighed "Let's go ahead and collapse the perimeter to a hundred yards of this residence hall Hecate. Captain Sanchez can we get a couple of the portable tactical screens and a tactical computer in whatever conference room we are moving to please?"

Lisa stood looking up at the room "Push come to shove we could do a vertical extraction through that window."

Amanda replied in the net "We will work it. Lets not do a high wire act unless we have to though. You will have to practice it for a day before we do it live."

Legend and Alexandria stood a bit apart watching and giving orders to the Protectorate, both on site and in their normal roles. It was turning out to be much more complicated than just catching a parahuman. Legend chuckled "Well most of them are underage so the wine trail would be wasted on them."

Alexandria grunted "Not on me though. Nothing is ever simple anymore. Remember when we just hit stuff until what we wanted to happen happened?"

Legend grimaced "Not fondly, no." Alexandria barked a laugh. Legend mock glared at her "So you just came, and brought your two elite strike teams, so you could beat someone up."

Alexandria shrugged non committedly. "They are having fun and getting training messing with Lung."

"You have a strange idea of fun nowadays Alexandria."


	24. Chapter 24

Reality Bites Worm

5.1

The PHO exploding lit up the media, who then kept Legend, half the New York PRT, and Alexandria busy the rest of the day. While that was going on, the appropriate players had been gathered and detailed scans made of the suspected bomber. Legend was adamant she could only be called a suspect. Everyone else rolled their eyes and acquiesced.

In the conference room after everyone had settled and had some time to look over the scans and be caught up with the current situation Dr. Parks, Chair of general surgery sighed and asked "How long can you keep her safely sedated?"

Dr. Charlie Belcher, Chair of the neuro surgery department snorted "I'm not sure forever is long enough. I think she used her nerves as wires."

"We found her costume. It was all ready for today, there is a HUD and a set of toe rings to be used as contacts." Dragon supplied.

Vicky wrinkled her nose, they were all in Oakleys by now. "Toe rings. So skanky."

Everyone chuckled. Dr. Howard Mann, Chair of Orthopedic surgery shook his head "Questionable fashion choices of college age females aside, unless we can disconnect these devices and move them out through the tissue, like Panacea does, I think we have lost this young woman."

Amy smiled "And how would you disconnect them? I mean we can move them, with some practice. It doesn't even have to be live animal testing. Your medical school is in New York city though isn't it. So we can't use the cadaver lab."

Charlie shrugged "Veterinary school, large animal gross anatomy lab. Pigs feel like humans when you are cutting on them. If your powers work on them might even be able to help out our veterinary school."

Dr. Parks suddenly smiled "Gamma knife. It can even be operated remotely."

Howard laughed "The Chancellor is going to kill you Jim."

Charlie waved him off "Not if it leads to saving those people in those effects. The University will save millions, maybe billions, in litigation."

Howard nodded "As opposed to a five-million-dollar gamma knife. Which is insured to the hilt. OK, if we can get pictures from all around these we can try it. The Gamma knife operates remotely so we should be good, on people anyway. Let's call Billy and tell him we are going to blow up his toy."

The girls looked at each other as allegedly grown men pranked their colleague. William Flowers, Chief of Radiology and Nuclear medicine.

RBW

Back in Brockton Bay the augmented PRT, the Protectorate under Miss Militia and the BBPD were applying a full court press to the surprised villain population of the Bay. The two strike teams of Alexandria's weren't playing any games. Neither was anyone else on the law and order side. Then there was Farmer and Sunshine's crew of operators. The gangs and other less than law abiding citizens learned very rapidly to lay low, inside, below the window ledges mostly, preferably in brick or concrete buildings. In basements if possible.

RBW

The rest of the day passed with the doctors trying things and arguing. The technicians rolling their eyes and setting up to use the gamma knife, and Taylor practicing moving things out of pigs that veterinary students implanted.

Then things Amy slipped in some of the pigs and healed over. As the poor things expired. Those she didn't just heal. Some of them were dying of old age or other things that had gone untreated to long. It got a little fraught and complicated. Taylor never wanted to hear about quality of life again. If you had no life, it automatically had no quality right?

In the end though the Veterinary school and Agriculture school Animal Husbandry department got all of their animals checked. The girls even did the fowl. Not that it helped with the bomb problem much, as the anatomy was so different, but they felt a little guilty about not being able to help all of the animals at the school, so they helped all they could.

While all of that was going on the alleged bomber was unconscious. Armsmaster, L33t and Dragon were disassembling her bombs, the ones on her rooms, some others they found looking in her HUD, and then working on the ones from the stadium. The students blithely went on about their days.

The Watch shook their heads over football being important enough to risk lives over as the stadium filled. Sure it had been checked but this girl was crafty, clever, and crazy.

Finally things settled and what needed to happen did. The Heads of the departments, Even William, seemed a bit disappointed they didn't manage to destroy the gamma knife. After the surprise wore off.

Finally it was time. The Watch found themselves at the Fieldhouse. The alleged bomber on a gurney across a practice basketball court, and themselves behind a sandbag revetment with screens showing HD images from drones and remote cameras.

Taylor rolled her eyes "Who is the blaster healer around here."

Amy fisted her hips "Who has never done that to a human. And just got this much range today! I don't want to have another Vista incident."

Vista sighed "It was nothing, and I can do it easy now. Taylor didn't even get dizzy."

Taylor sighed "Lets at least try it this way first Ames."

"Grrrr. Fine."

Vicky grinned "Reach out with your feelings Luke!"

Amy kicked her in the shin and put her bare hand on Taylors neck. Taylor was staring at the body on the gurney at the other end of the field house. They were all behind a blast shield Armsmaster had come up with, and the sandbags Dodona had insisted on "OK got one. All right, so push like this, and move that and, oh membrane. Yikes, we will have to fix that. Skin and there!" A small packet like a mermaid's purse popped out and dropped to the floor. The girls all ducked.

Amy slapped Taylor on the shoulder. "I nearly wet myself you goof." The bomb squad robot skittered over, picked up the bomb, and trundled away.

Taylor hugged Amy "Sorry, eight more. Ready?"

"Take your time Taylor. It's not playdough. Don't just rip them out of her like that. We will have to fix all of the damage you do." Amy put her hand back on the back of her neck.

The one in the bone proved more than a little difficult. They had to do it in stages. They also had to take the failsafe, or failunsafe? Deadwoman switch? Anyway they had to take it out at the same time. That was what had disappointed the doctors, L33t, Armsmaster, and Dragon had figured out which nerve not to cut. They finished after the football game. Fixed the alleged bomber and went to dinner trundling her along on her gurney. She was on her tenth knockout hornet. Amy was going to have to adjust her out of that too. She would have a headache the size of her ego.

RBW

They were all in trucks watching the screens when Armsmaster and Dragon figured out Bakuda's computer, HUD, and trigger mechanism.

There had been some controversy over the name, well ongoing controversy really, but the girl called herself Bakuda. In Japanese a bomb was bakudan. They would have to wait until she was awake and ask her what she wanted to be called. They already knew her civilian identity after all.

They watched the screens as the first bomb went off. Dragon nodded "So that's that."

Taylor shrugged "Time to wake up Bakuda I guess."

RBW

Taylor sighed "Dinah are you sure?" Dinah glared at her. "Sorry. I don't want Bakuda in the Watch."

Kate snorted "You, imperious leader, are not alone. I don't think any of us do."

Taylor drummed her fingers "Plus its unfair. There are girls out there who are much more deserving."

Danny smiled and spoke into the boom mike of his headset "And when they show up you are going to take them in."

Alexandria shrugged "We will bring in therapist and provide a guard for her until she is, rehabilitated? Our thinkers agree with the Watch thinkers though. She does best in the Watch. She would not do well at all in the Protectorate. Males are a bit the root of all evil to her right now. The Protectorate does not have any all female teams."

Purity snorted "Having baby sitters for her. That just lets you get the PRT a permanent presence in the Watch. She will never pay off the damages."

Thy shrugged "Nobody died. We can fight the ones she is responsible for down to low seven figures. The University is going to take it in the shorts. Tenure doesn't excuse misogyny, or sexual assault. Her statements, rambling manifesto that they are, and those notes she left, led to others who led to others. It's going to be a bloodbath. Watch Legal is going to make a fortune. So are these women."

Danny shrugged "Demolition work isn't cheap, even if we do low bid. That's leaving alone those effects. If she could time stop a connex, an ISO container, it wouldn't have to be refrigerated. That's worth a dollar a loaded mile or hour right there. And talk about secure storage. You could leave a pile of gold in the middle of the street. She won't suffer from boredom. Might work her to death."

Thy smiled at the growl from Taylor. "I will handle Susan Sato Taylor. The universities aren't any more misogynistic than when I attended. Millions of women go to post-secondary education. She needs to get over herself. Sure, she had a bad thing happen to her. So do millions of men and women. They don't blow up the world. Sadly some of them never do well again. That's why we are constantly working to make it better.

"Besides you are out here trying to put a stop to that kind of thing.

"You get packed up. You have a six-hour drive back without the roads being closed for you. Everyone knows where the Watch is now. Just wake Susan up for me before you go. I need to talk to her. Rachel can stay to be my hands." 'And this little diva is not messing up my perfect thing. Bakuda will come to heel or die here.' She thought.

Alexandria gave her an arched brow across the video link. "I'll stay for that conversation." Lisa just looked at them both.

Dragon nodded "I still can't believe they self-policed and we only had to ban a few. They did get close to crashing it, but it was when we were disposing of the bombs and that was just volume of traffic. Whenever video of the Watch was streaming PHO went quiet."

Vicky grinned "Its Alexandria. That butt has them hypnotized."

"Hey!" Alexandria had gone back to wearing a cape. The boards were hugely disappointed and took it out on members who had commented on Alexandria's butt. "Ok, so yes, maybe, which I don't get at all. I think the front is much better. What the hell did you two do to my boobs Physis?"

Danny cleared his throat "OK, if we are done with business, the men are leaving so you ladies can discuss the important things. We'll be on channel two."

The ladies checked the tally and when the last man had dropped off channel one Physis said "It's the reconditioning. There are ligaments that hold your breast up. Parian said something about them remember? Age and gravity are not their friends. We thought a little boost at those as well. They will settle a bit, but not much."

Carol sighed "If that ever gets out you two won't have time for anything else. Instant boob job."

Amy sighed "It's one of the effects we didn't know about. We found out on Athena. We don't augment though."

Taylor agreed "Yeah the general boost seems to do that fine. All on its own. Reduction or augmentation. All right, let's pack it up and kiss some babies, then we are out of here."

Alexandria rolled her eyes "We aren't running for office. Thy and I will stay and talk to Susan. Wake her up as you go and leave a knock out and a monitoring hornet. We will call and have you put her back to sleep for the ride back."

Kate shrugged "Leave them happy. It doesn't cost us anything. Legend will be there. Play nice Alexandria."


	25. Chapter 25

Reality Bites Worm

5.2

"It doesn't cost us anything except sore hands. I didn't even know there was a white marker. I must have signed a thousand hoodies." Taylor said once they were on the road. It had taken an hour and a half to get the 'hand shaking and baby kissing that she had proposed done. Alexandria had been chortling for the last thirty minutes even as she signed hundreds of autographs herself. Unusual enough that it drew comments on PHO.

Sherrel nodded "Paint marker. They must have emptied the art department of them. How did the hoodies get here is what I want to know? That line of us signing worked though, they all wanted them signed by all of us."

Parian came up in the net "The crews here knock them out when we don't have another order. The embroidery takes as long as the piece work, about a minute for a completed one with the embroidery machines. Tac time on the whole thing is about two minutes total. It's simple, so the rework rate is zero, thirty per hour per machine is nothing. We have a hundred machine stations. What we don't have any more is excess material in that charcoal. It's spoken for coming out of the spinners right now. The Cornell book store bought all we had, or rather all we could make over the hundred an hour that the New Wave shop is selling and the orders from buyers in most of the expensive boutiques on the east coast. We are going to use up that brown, coal, and soot color stuff next. Apparently, they like that brown in the west. All the excess ballistic in any color is spoken for now. It actually can be pieced from off cuts of the uniforms we are cutting for PRT and Police Departments everywhere. On the cutting tables. We don't have scrap anymore. At least scrap of that material.

"Make sure I get those markers you kept Athena, we will add a print station for your signatures once we figure out the ink, paint, whatever it is, and up charge them a hundred dollars.

"It's a good thing as the Military is still testing and trying treatments on the uniform samples we gave them before they write a spec for Uniforms. We have a bit of excess material. I didn't want to turn the weavers off and we don't even have to dye this. Its raw silk. We gave the Wards theirs, one with their cape names on them and one without for cost, about thirty dollars. We sell them in the Union shop for the same.

"We have had some interest from Police and Military for hoodies with their logos too. Hopefully the next generation of spinners will be able to help us get ahead of the demand."

Sherrel sighed "I told the military any other requirements on the fabric and the cost was going to go up. It can be machine washed in cold water on gentle now."

"Hey, open the troop doors on top and stand up, you got to see this." The lead driver announced on the inter vehicle channel.

The girls did, after putting their head gear on, and were shocked, then waved at the crowds on the overpass they were approaching.

Lisa chuckled "We need someone watching PHO twenty four seven. Someone saw us pulling out and got video. Then they got video of every turn we made onto the interstate and now there is video of us waving to the crowd. I got PHO up on my HUD."

Alexandria added "We're all the Sunday talk shows can talk about as well."

Lucy frowned "OK, so this is a thing, let's be alert. If I am an asshole I hit us on the way back at one of these overpasses to build my rep."

Taylor zoomed in on the route and started pinging brain bugs. The screen populated with data. "You are way too good at thinking like a criminal Lucy, good thing we caught you. So much for a fun Sunday drive. I've got ones and two's at every overpass, outliers from the crowds. Some of the cloverleaf's too."

Legend laughed a bit bitterly "Yeah. OK, I am on with the State emergency manager. The State Patrol already had this thought. They are looking for a rolling as well as a stationary ambush. They have the local jurisdictions checking the crowds at the overpasses and cloverleaf's."

Taylor nodded "Guns up and loaded. Foam first ask questions later."

"Watch, Dodona, there are people in the median five miles in front of you. Looking, yes, support elements off on the shoulder as well."

Sherrel laughed "To easy. The mortars will range long before we get there and the fire control can do a moving solution. If they are stationary we don't even need to designate. OK I got em. Holy shit RPG's! The trucks can tank those but the civilian traffic would catch hell. Lead two trucks Commander Sanchez, I have control of their mortars."

"Roger, the drivers want to know if they need to do anything special."

"No, they will feel the firing but it shouldn't even make the wheel pull to either side. It will fire in matched pairs one from each side. The trucks will squat a little on the suspension. They just need to hold a steady speed if they are foot feeding. If they are on cruise control it will be fine. OK stand by, twenty seconds." Sherrel got green lights from the two fire control systems and smirked "Rounds on the way."

Cars and trucks near the lead two trucks swerved a bit when they fired twelve rounds each. Sherrel cackled a bit "Splash. So, first on the move test of the mortars is a success."

The median and both sides of the road grew blocks of containment foam, all the way to the edge of the pavement. It was impressive. Even for a tinker built fire control system. Traffic slowed to look as they went by. State Police cruisers pulled up and started putting out flares. The girls stood up and waved to the State cops as did the PRT troopers. Truck drivers blew their horns at the girls and got waves.

"Somebody, two people at least, streamed it. Well one was streaming the lead trucks already and someone had the presence of mind to start streaming in front of us and caught it landing. We need to hire that person. Even if they got lucky, all of those who had enough sense to start streaming. There are a lot of clips being posted. Hey these guys know our range, they were all inside our fourteen kilometer circle!" Lisa said.

"Or at least keep an eye on them." Dragon added.

Athena snorted "That's with standard ammo, somebody has been reading Wikipedia. I can reach out much further, especially from the short halt. I got the rocket assist working."

Taylor nodded "OK, all the brain bugs along the route are up, Dodona you should be able to look at the whole route. I'll keep rolling this bubble for fine detail. I can easily do five kilometers in front and behind the convoy."

"You know if it wasn't for the snow that would be a pretty campus and it's a good school." Taylor mused.

Thy chuckled "Change of subject much? By the time I get through with them Taylor, the Watch, Spartans, PRT strike team, DWU, Alexandria, Legend, their spouses, and direct descendants will attend there for free, forever if they want too. You all saved them billions in law suits. I'll have a house built on the grounds for any of ours that want to attend. Armsmaster and Dragon too."

Taylor smiled and shook her head. Thy didn't get overly emotional, she got even. None of that wailing and gnashing of teeth shit for her.

RBW

They made good time smiling and waving and didn't have any more trouble until they got to Albany. "Watch, Dodona, we have what we think is a vertical ambush set up in Albany. We want to use the recoilless rifles. The Local PD are already on the channel."

Taylor shrugged "Good test I guess. OK lay it out Dodona."

Alexandria nodded at the end "As long as the foam rounds will break the windows. None of the local capes are involved. The Albany Protectorate and PRT has eyes on their villains. This is out of towners. The local villains are cooperating with the Protectorate, a local truce. Someone trod on someone's toes, hard."

Athena shrugged and worked on her console "Delay on the new seven thirty fours, Man, nice trip Skitter, I get to test the new toys!" Taylor rolled her eyes, those engineers from the Army had given up everything to Sherrel. Information and hardware. The BAE and GDLS guys had been competitive and given up a lot of technology too. The L3 guys had given up the 734A1 fuzes. Their wives were going to kill them all if they ever found out.

Sherrel, of course, had worked out how to get them into the auto assembler and loader, along with the right sized obturator and rotating band for each weapon. Logistics were pretty simple when you only had to worry about one caliber of projectile for foam and HE. The recoilless rifles had the full range, high explosive, high explosive plastic, high explosive anti-tank, anti-personnel or canister (all of which had to be disassembled, inspected, cleaned, Sherrill's improvements applied, and reassembled. A labor intensive process involving specialized skills from some eighty year old ordnance technicians formerly employed by Alliant Tech Systems. There weren't many APERS available as a result but the number was improving. Someone was going to have a really bad day if they pushed the Watch that far.) The trick to that auto loader had been getting it to reliably rotate the shell slightly until the rifling engaged the precut rotating band. A trick Sherrel then used on the mortar autoloader. Four point two inch mortars being rifled as well. Technically the mortars could shoot all of those projectiles as well, they were one hundred and six point seven millimeters in bore, but the full range weren't normally loaded in the Mortar projectile bays. Neither were the White Phosphorous projectiles for the mortars, those horrified everyone.

"The foam hasn't dissolved on those idiots on the road and bugs don't see color the same as we do so we still don't know who this is. The plan should work. The angles are good. We outrange them by at least six hundred meters. Civilians in the area?" Lisa asked.

"Albany PD is clearing the line of fire and then will widen out as they can. They have some veterans who have experience with M40's. Wow, a lot of them. Oh, Marine reserve battalion. Damn the whole Battalion is on the Police force, what do they do if those guys get activated? The State PD and National Guard are helping, securing our route and the maneuver lanes. The New York State Government is not happy about this. They keep asking about lethal weapons." Alexandria reported.

Taylor nodded "OK, guns then we dismount and assault, in accordance with Dodona's plan, if the guns don't get it done. We aren't going lethal until we have to, and then it will be with bugs, from a distance."

L33t swore "Fuck, guys I looked at the local web cams. There are people on all the roofs not in the line of fire."

"We saw them L33t. The state is aware of them. They are being advised quietly." Amanda told them all.

Rachel snorted "What the NFL isn't playing today? NASCAR doesn't have a race?" The others started then laughed. Rachel continued "No biggy. We have an audience, even at two in the morning with it raining, anytime we do anything. We got this."

Taylor nodded "Yep. Hey Vista how is Bakuda?"

Vista was smiling, you could hear it in her voice "Still a pissed off pretzel." Vista was holding her in a folded space. From the outside it appeared she was tied in a knot. She had made the space around a polycarbonate box they were keeping Bakuda in in a set of scrubs impossible to get out of as well as tiny. Bakuda was not a happy camper, even though Amy had healed her and generally cleaned her up. Taylor had gotten better but she was still a bit hard on Bakuda.

"OK, Athena you have tactical control of the trucks. Hecate has the ground element. Gorgo and Commander Sanchez send your reports to me. Dodona, Watch, SP time now." Taylor announced looking at the map on her HUD. She was busy building an enormous swarm and moving it to all the ambush locations. The in=formation on the situation board was getting more granular all the time.

"Dodona copies." The graphics appeared on the HUDs and the detail filled in rapidly.

A few minutes later Commander Sanchez reported "Watch, Delta RP." She led her element of eleven trucks into the route they had planned and discussed. She and the PRT trucks had the majority of the targets. Everyone else slowed a bit to give them time to work into position.

"Roger, Watch RP." Taylor reported as they crossed the intersection at the top of the ramp and Sherrel turned her element of three trucks onto their route.

A few minutes later Carol reported "Spartans RP." The three trucks carrying the Spartans turned into a third route.

L33t reported "RP." And his five trucks carrying the support element and including the Ambulances marked with the big red crosses continued down the original route at a reduced pace. They weren't bait, they were going to loiter along staying just out of range until the engagement opened and then they were supposed to punch it and race to the armory. RPG's didn't work well on moving targets, it was the way they were propelled. Swinging the launcher threw them off, you needed a very experienced grenadier to make that shot, but a distraction plan wasn't going to hurt. Vista was also with them.

Alexandria announced, "Intel reports a lot of crosstalk in Asiatic languages on the cell network."

Lisa snorted "ABB. Lung wants Bakuda. They did the ambush on the interstate too, or guys he hired."

Legend chuckled darkly "If he is here I am so going to go Spartan on his ass." No one saw her but Alexandria nodded.

Sherrel announced "Contact. My gunners have eyes on."

Commander Sanchez reported "Unmasking the guns, thirty seconds."

Carol beat her by a few seconds calling contact. Taylor looked at the targets in her HUD, when they were all lined up and were all different she announced, "Weapons free that's all of them."

Recoilless rifles barked. The crowds winced and pulled back from the edges of roofs and away from the street while twenty-two offices along the main route from the third to the fifth story of different buildings filled with foam. The two medic trucks not having ammunition, the medical slip pack took up all the space, two of Captain Sanchez's trucks shifted targets and got rounds in the air before the first rounds landed. "OK keep moving to the armory. Stay alert. If we get engaged the prisoner transport runs for the armory, everyone else dismounts." Taylor instructed. The convoy slid back to the main route with some trucks stopped to provide over watch and the crowds cheering.

They got to the Armory and the Governor met them there full of effusive praise. Taylor looked at Lisa "Does he have a teleporter or something?"

Lisa snorted "Helicopter."

"No wonder taxes are so high in this state. The cheapest of those things cost sixteen hundred dollars an hour to operate." Taylor shook her head. Lisa had to go behind a truck she was laughing so hard.

Later Taylor was sitting at a table "No Governor, thank you for the offer, but we have a long way to go and tomorrow is a school day. I don't want to be on the road too late. The press would eat up a lot of time." She thought wryly 'in addition to the hour we are going to be signing autographs and posing for pictures with police and National Guard troops'.

The governor was a bit disappointed he wasn't getting a news conference but he didn't press. After all the Watch was essentially fighting its way across his state. There were a lot of ways the press could make a press conference go wrong. "My Adjutant General tells me national intelligence assets have been tasked to look at the rest of your route and a liaison sent to your headquarters in Brockton Bay. I won't keep you. Thank you from the people of New York, and myself, for your help. Taylor nodded and shook his hand while Lisa told her "Spy planes. There aren't any more satellites. The Simurgh."

They all got mounted back up, after the autographs for 'daughters and wives' and group pictures with all and sundry, and waved as they left town. Alexandria reported "ABB and some local affiliates. In the highway ambush anyway. Probably the same here. Lung is having another fit but they have him contained. E88 are helping, actually being helpful helping, if you can believe. He was screaming something about Coil."

Lisa nodded "OK, which answers that. The plan and weapons came from Coil. We really have to do something about that guy. He is going to keep poking that freaking dragon until it eats us all."

Alexandria nodded "Yes I think so. We have some assets here, or rather in Brockton Bay. We will have to wait until the dust settles a bit and see if he is still as much of a threat. If we can lease the space they are using now for a few weeks?"

Lisa shot a glance at Alexandria, she had been missing for the whole meet and greet rest stop. She appeared unruffled but very satisfied. Lisa was willing to bet some ambushers were not so happy. "And those two teams don't have anything better to do?"

Alexandria shrugged "Might as well get some use out of them until someone else volunteers to be a target. I'm sure Lung, the Empire, or the Merchants will keep them entertained."

Lisa nodded "And Bakuda is captured not turned."

"Yet," Alexandria replied confidently over the net.

Taylor nodded "Work it out with Union Man. Meanwhile we can get back to school and normal patrols."

Legend looked at Alexandria in his command and control truck and sighed, she shrugged. It was nice to be all naïve like the Watch was. Like they had been twenty years ago.


	26. Chapter 26

Reality Bites Worm

5.3

Jack Slash sat up and grunted "Thank you Poppet."

Bonesaw whimpered and curled up tighter on the mattress in the cheap hotel room. She was exhausted. She had just managed to put them all back together again. She didn't even know where they were other than somewhere in Minnesota, or was it Iowa. Wherever they grew lots of corn anyway. The last weeks had been just like when she lost Momma and Daddy. Blood and cut up bodies. The burns and crush injuries were really the only difference. She was out of energy and resources, she had had to start cannibalizing her art projects, and then her spiders for parts.

Jack watched the TV and frowned. The Watch. Helping people. Very effectively, and gaining great popularity. This would never do. It was fine when they stuck to their little town. But now they were branching out. This would have to be watched. As soon as they got rid of Eidolon they could deal with these people and the news media would lap it up. Now where was Mr. Green? Oh, they needed a truck too.

RBW

A few miles away Eidolon was in a suite at the Holiday in and suites in Fort Dodge. He was recovering slowly. The healing power he had pulled wasn't fast but it was thorough. He would need to talk to Contessa about his next move. She was so difficult though. Manton, Shatterbird, and Bonesaw. If he could kill one of those the others would fall rapidly. But, no, she had to have them for her stupid path.

Manton though, now that he knew, well the path was going to get to do without him. Regardless of what Contessa and Dr. Mother wanted.

David looked around. He should raid the mini bar. Or maybe go down to the bar. He had checked in in his civilian identity looking like an exhausted traveler. There had been some likely looking ladies of about the right age in the lobby. Corn fed, Iowa, get it? He snorted at himself. Maybe a nap first. Definitely a shower. He would have to door to his apartment for more clean clothes after the shower too.

RBW

"Colin?" Dragon called to Armsmaster.

"Yes Dragon?"

"The Endbringers are out of cycle. There hasn't been an attack in months Colin."

"I know Dragon. It's a bit puzzling. The tracking system is nearly ready though and we will see where Behemoth and Leviathan are. I think Simurgh intended to attack Madison. Something distracted her. It looks more and more like it is Eidolon and the Nine."

"Colin, the only way it could be more sure is if she had popcorn to eat while she is watching them." She smiled as he grumbled.

"They must be communicating."

Dragon nodded "We'll figure it out somehow."

"Unless it is 'utter bullshit'"

Dragon laughed "Channeling Clockblocker?"

The tinker shook his head and then nodded "We need some out of the box thinking. Maybe I am hoping. The Wards are suddenly much better. perhaps Kid Win will settle, find his focus. Sadly I think they would have been better still if Vista was still here. I still dont really understand why she was let go so easy. Perhaps if I had been able to recruit female parahumans other than Shadow Stalker."

She smiled at the glare he was directing at the part he was working on under a magnifying glass. "Shadow Stalker is, different, as well. So, what do you think of the Watch?"

"I think that is a very effective team Dragon. I believe I am going to recommend Strike team Delta works with them all the time. Sergeant Bertod's squad should be attached to the Wards permanently as well."

"And Lung Colin?"

"Something has to be done about him. He went after Wards with deadly weapons."

Dragon smiled "The Watch aren't wards."

"They are the same age and Vista was a Ward Dragon." Dragon smiled at Colin getting his dander up about it. "And him burning half of the Asian section of town down."

Colin shrugged "He owns most of what he burned, or shell companies being traced back to him do. What little he didnt own his lieutenants did, do. It was all apparently insured as well. Although that is looking like a company he owned. A money laundry really. He hurt himself more than we hurt him.

"Now if this parahuman the Watch captured isn't certifiably insane, something I doubt very much, we may have come out ahead this time."

RBW

Emma looked at Sophia's hoodie "How did you get your name on it?"

Sophia looked at her and she face faulted "Oh. Cool!"

Madison grinned "You should try the bra and pantie sets, they are plain gray but they are so freaking snuggly. It was worth the fitting."

Sophia smiled "I know, I got some. The only bra I would ever wear to bed. They wick too so they stay snuggly even if you are running and working out in them. Parian is a genius."

Emma blinked "Wait, what?"

Madison smiled "I was on the boardwalk while you two were busy." She waggled her eyebrows, Emma glared at her. "Doing whatever it is you go off and do. The New Wave store expanded into the store front next to it and they have lingerie, really sports bras and panties, long sleeve t shirt things, cargo pants, hoodies, these shirt jacket things, all kinds of stuff!"

Sophia nodded "Battle dress jacket and pants, combat shirts, they are PRT issue. Issue pattern underwear but not issue color which is black of course."

Madison shrugged "They have this grey on grey block pattern. Some brown, some plain gray, this really weird flat black."

"Night digicam. That's the Watch pattern." Sophia supplied. "The PRT only uses black. It must be seconds."

Madison shrugged again "Whatever. I can't find anything wrong with it. And it has space up top and its wide in the hips but not the waist. The underwear is not expensive either. Not Wally World cheap but not Victoria's Secret expensive."

Emma nodded "Maybe they need a model?"

Sophia contained her snort "OK later. Track Practice and you guys have PE."

Madison nodded getting her laughter under control and looked at Emma "You have to wait on line to get in the place Emma. They aren't advertising, its Parian and everybody knows it.

RBW

Rune walked up to the Gate house at the DWU dock yard. Tyrone looked at her "Little out of your range, aren't you?"

Rune lifted a shoulder in a half shrug, "I wanted to talk to Skitter."

Tyrone nodded "OK, I can see that. If I let you in though it will be trouble for you to go back. If they don't take you it will be better for you to disappear."

"I know." Rune nodded.

Tyrone replied "Purity is coming. Skitter isn't here yet."

Rune smirked "I cut." Tyrone chuckled.

When Purity arrived the two were talking football. Tyrone looked at Purity "Another one who isn't a good racist."

Purity laughed "It's a thing. What can I say."

Tyrone laughed and nodded "Tell mom hey for me when you pick up Aster for her lunch will you? I'm going to the Watch Tower from here so will be home late."

"Sure thing Tyrone. Come on Rune." She led the girl away. Tyrone shook his head and turned to the truck his guys were looking over. Kaiser better up his game. Them freaking giant ass twins would be showing up next.

Rune looked at Purity "Night and Fog left."

"Kaiser isn't making much sense right now. No idea why, he doesn't see it." Purity shrugged. "They are true believers but aren't going to ride a sinking ship."

Rune nodded "Charitably speaking. So charitably, he isn't violent enough for them, or isn't advancing the agenda fast enough."

Purity nodded "One of those. Or maybe he isn't a believer in the same cause they were indoctrinated in, maybe he is a believer in Kaiser."

"Fenja and Menja are followers." Rune said.

"And blond with big boobs." Purity added, and Rune snickered.

Rune sighed "Cricket is crazy, she just wants a fight. Othala is tied to Victor."

"Victor texted me the other day. He thought you might come over. They are considering it." Purity watched Rune out of the corner of her eye.

"And here I was being all clandestine." Rune said dryly.

Purity laughed. "OK, you will fit in. We'll get the legal people on your shit."

Rune rolled her eyes "I paid my debt to society. I haven't done anything since I got out of juvy." Purity eyed her and she held her hand up with two fingers folded "Scouts honor."

"Except you weren't a Scout. So, nothing you think can be traced back to you. We will let our investigators see what they can find. Then the lawyers will know what they have to clean up. Meanwhile you can start getting into shape for training. And we can work on rebranding and a debut patrol for you." Purity said opening the door to the Union hall. Thy had moved her office there now. Or rather her main office. She had a couple of new lawyers out in her old office. They did the type of stuff she used to while she concentrated on the Watch. They brought in a client a day. Then they gave whoever they could conceivably, included in whatever triggered the parahumans, the suing frenzy treatment.

RBW

Sophia got out of the truck smiling "I thought we were done until the courses this summer?"

Carlos answered on the net "We are keeping squad integrity and doing patrols in New York as well as here. Maybe some in Boston with their Wards. We will have to integrate them though."

Sophia whistled "Bean town is tough, almost as bad as here."

"With their Wards and us we would make a full squad and they have trained with New York." Carlos offered.

Dean snorted "The Protectorate doing something sensible. What will happen next?"

Miss Militia stepped out of the darkness beside a pillar and Dean gulped. "We are trying to adjust Gallant. It's a big organization though. I'm going to remind you of this when you get to be a leader at some directorate." The others laughed as Dean groaned. "OK the Watch is letting us use their facilities."

Dennis tossed out "For a small fee."

Hannah smiled under her kerchief and nodded "By the hour, so we won't be wasting any time. New York will be here momentarily and Wall and the New York controllers will brief. Pay attention, this is all new ground for you. You will be in Crown Heights Brooklyn tonight. You have a Dragon assault ship, flight time will be forty minutes each way. Interest in the Watch is at a fever pitch so you will be closely watched due to your association with them."

"And it's NYC, so all the networks." Dennis added.

Hannah nodded "Yes. I will be taking another squad from New York through evaluation and a patrol on route Showoff. Then they will get their training in over in Zombie land over the next few weeks. It is being reconfigured for them."

Chris shuddered "Poor bastards." Carlos got some good natured ribbing about route Showoff.

Deanna Berthod showed up with her squad and the trucks. Clockblocker looked at Dean "See, you tempted Murphy. The 'whatever next' is the PRT acting like they have sense too." Deanna just grinned and racked the slide of her shotgun. The wards eyed her like gazelle at the last watering hole left in the dry season. She had been know to provide motivation, with rubber buckshot, which stung, a lot, at least since Vista had gone over to the Watch.

The assault transport from New York landed on the apron in front of the warehouse and unloaded seventeen wards and two Protectorate members. One of them being Prism let the wards know how serious the leadership was taking this, she was third in the chain of command in New York.


	27. Chapter 27

Reality Bites Worm

5.4

Taylor looked at Trainwreck "OK we are going to fix you up as much as we can. Then you will be given access to a bunch of material and you can make yourself a powered suit." The Watch had found him, at the front gate, after Rune showed up. Tyrone was thinking of putting in benches and a overhead cover for the waiting area the front of his guard shack was becoming. Trainwreck was being processed now.

"OK Dokay."

Amy arched a brow "You are awful accepting."

Trainwreck chuckled "Hard to be anything else. Plus, it gets me away from the whiner. Good looking girl, parents paying for school, and she wigs out? She should have my life for a day. A day with her and anyone would take anything to get away."

Taylor and Amy looked at each other and got to work.

Over in Parians building Rune said "Bia. Dragon is going to pick another name if she can get to where she can come out of her armor and she hasn't had a Watch debut yet"

Vicky smiled "Nice one. OK costume."

"Tut tut, Stay in your lane Dianna." Parian scolded.

RBW

Skitter rubbed her butt "OK, so I may not be cut out for surfing."

Kate rolled her eyes and pulled her to her feet "Come on. Just don't turn so hard yet. Oh, and build up more speed so the board doesn't stop in the turn."

Skitter huffed and remounted her board. They messed around in zombi land for another thirty minutes then left for a patrol on route Showoff. Just to let everyone know they were back in town. Plus Fugly Bobs, all the red meat!

On the way back they had to do a little Lung containment and got to watch Hookwolf getting barbequed. He and Lung both seemed to enjoy it. A normal night in Brockton Bay, or the new normal.

RBW

The school year proceeded and they settled into a rhythm. A fast rhythm, but still a rhythm. April flowed by and the last week of the month and spring break was upon them.

They spent the week checking projects, starting new ones and getting briefed on stuff the Watch was paying the union to do. It was a lot. Taylor blew at her bangs and leaned back in her chair "So in summary, every industry that could possibly be needed by the people of Brockton Bay as long as it at least breaks even we are running. The LLC owns the facilities and the union man's them with either humans or parahumans. We do try to match abilities to industries. Right now the industries are just paying the LLC back but they will break into profitability in the near future. As a tax dodge we are cleaning up the bay."

Thy gave her a look "Not as a tax dodge, though it does relieve us of a considerable amount of tax, it is the LLC giving back to the community. At the same time we turn a considerable profit from the salvage and scrap and will later from the cannery and fish auction operation."

Taylor nodded "So businesses paying the Watch for security isn't a protection racket either?"

Thy smiled "No, we are a licensed and bonded provider of security services, up to and including armed guards and escorts. Which reminds me, you all need to requalify on your issue sidearms." Lucy clapped like a little girl. She loved the range.

Taylor laughed "So legal versus illegal is all in the permits?"

Thy nodded "Duh. And the insurance."

"Mean stepmother."

Thy let go with a string of Cantonese that ended in bad stepdaughter. Thy and Taylor laughed until they cried when they looked at Danny's anxious face. He sighed "You are both terrible women."

Taylor rubbed her hands together "So June, a perfect time for you to make an honest woman of Thy dad."

"Hey! I can manage my own affairs thank you. Maybe I like being a mistress for the all-powerful Union Man." Thy replied.

Danny stood up "OK I am going to get a beer. You're just being silly now, the pair of you."

Sarah looked around as the men left with him "OK did we run them off for a reason or are we just playing?"

Taylor shrugged "Playing, mostly, though we do need to discuss the summer schedule. I want my beach time fully blocked out."

Sarah nodded "Good idea. Otherwise they will work all summer."

Lisa waved a phonebook thick sheaf of paper "Phhhttt. You older ladies aren't keeping them busy enough. When I said everything a home would need, I didn't expect them to buy Oneida and Echo's old machinery and start from flat ware and bake ware. Sure, it's only one machine per item but do you have any idea how many pieces a tinked machine can turn out an hour? Train car loads that's how many.

"So of course, we had to have a paper mill for boxes and wrapping paper. Any idea how hard it is to make those comply with EPA regulations? L33t's power loving him into some sort of blissed out catatonia hard. The freaking steel mill was easier and it has an arc furnace we could melt the town down in. Oh and a copper refinery, aluminum smelter, precious metals refinery, and smelter. What the fuck is a Rayburn? Why are we casting them? Why do they have floo's that collect all kinds of chemicals? A floo is a chimney right?

"Polycarbonate instead of glass for every application. Tinked of course because it's never been done before. Optically correct, bullet resistant, temperature stable, UV resistant, polycarbonate. The Defense Department wats a hundred and fifty-four thousand different specification pieces all on their own.

"Parian, Honey I love you, but do you have to do five complete wardrobe designs a day? Have we checked if she is a tinker?

"Building materials! Who knew distillation of salt water would produce gypsum? So much that not only do we sell it for fertilizer mixed with various other alleged waste, we bought a drywall line? Fucking Bakuda isn't a bomb tinker she is a materials tinker Cornell pissed off. Give her a chemical or the refinery and salt water distillation plant, both of which we run on what would otherwise be waste heat by the way, and away she goes. Now molecules to order for gods sake. Uber can't even keep up with her. And he is the only one that can talk to the ill-tempered bitch. I thought a JAP was a Jewish American Princess, who knew it meant Japanese as well?"

Crystal looked at Vicky "Retail or Icecream?"

Vicky nodded "Yes, I think."

Lisa was pulled to her feet and marched to her truck, or the girls Escalade. Lisa was still the only one with a license but Crystal was close, Heidi, Rune, or now Bia, included in the crowd. Every girl under twenty piled in the thing. It roared off.

Sarah and the older ladies went in and looked at the catalog of well, stuff really. Purity shook her head "We will either be fabulously rich or prosecuted as a monopoly."

Carol snorted "Thy and myself with MIRIS are already crushing big corporation's nuts. Thy has a folder on every bought senator and congressman in government. Her investigators, whoever they are, are very thorough. What saves us is that buying these companies cast off equipment and rebuilding to keep our tinkers out of mischief, That plus hiring workers to run it. I thought the Governor was going to put hits out on both senators and half the congressional delegation before they caught on that in the end votes outweigh hookers from some corporation Headquartered in some other state."

"Even if the hookers are boys." Purity snarked.

RBW

Bia, she preferred that to Heidi and was done with Rune, looked at Lisa then Taylor "So L33t tied your brain into the computer and through you the network you have. How does, say Parian, using the input devices feel?" She waggled her eyebrows.

Amanda, Lucy, and Lisa all rubbed their temples "Ouch." Taylor looked at them speculatively.

Crystal held up a hand "Do we want a Lisa with that much snarkability? Wiring her directly to the network seems a bad idea somehow." Lisa flipped her the bird and the girls all laughed. They were on the boardwalk in their Watch hoodies with their cape names across the shoulders and domino mask and were causing consternation and overflow crowds within a hundred meters each side of their group. They were doing hard core retail therapy. Looking at everything and buying nothing. The merchants didn't mind because when the girls left their stores were picked so clean there were tumbleweeds in the aisles and a fading sound of spurs jingling. Or maybe that was the tills jingling. There were tumbleweeds though. One of the merchants sighed "A new cape in the crowd and they were excited obviously. Wait a minute, Uber and L33t worked for the Watch, this could be some of their bullshit. Tumbleweeds. Seriously?"

Taylor walked out of the next shop into Sophia Hess. Sophia beamed at her "Skitter! Hey!"

Taylor laughed "Hey to you too. What's up?"

Sophia realized she was hugging Skitter to her chest "Nothing much. Boob mashing my idol."

The girls all froze a minute then broke up laughing. Emma stomped her foot as she was washed to the outside of the group and left in the crowd.

After about fifteen minutes Vista couldn't stand it anymore "What the fuck? You were a complete bitch."

Sophia grabbed her and hugged her, provoking a squawk "I know. I'm sorry. I promise I will do better. I saw this Aleph movie and it had that oath in it and that stuck with me and then we went to cover for you guys and the Watch Tower, the support organization, all those people in the DWU just trying to do their best day in and day out. I guess it all clicked. My mom says I got religion. I think she is glad, even if it is Templar instead of Episcopalian."

Vicky had steered them in to a smaller boutique which scraped all the gawkers off. Taylor looked at Sophia "You know."

Sophia nodded "I couldn't be any sorrier. I was so wrong and you were so strong."

Taylor blinked "Well your pants didn't catch on fire so I have to believe you. So, what the fuck is the deal with Emma."

Sophia told the story. And Taylor frowned "So what, she triggered as a cunt?"

The girls, who weren't listening at all, snorted. Sophia sighed "I keep trying to get her to see how wrong I was, but my old bullshit philosophy got her through it so…. I'm sorry. It was a bit of a joke aside from being stupid anyway, well not a joke maybe, maybe it was me trying to act like a tough girl."

Taylor glared at her "You should be. You and I are sparing and I am so kicking your ass. And if you hold back I am going to shoot you in the knee, and have fix you, so I can shoot you some more." Sophia winced. "Then we are going to figure out how to get that fucking prick Alan Barnes to get his daughter some competent help, since he and his wife fucked her up so bad she fell for your bullshit." Taylor looked around "Where the fuck is she? I saw her and that little bitch Madison earlier."

Sophia sighed "I'll go find them. You know Madison is really smart. You should get her in cape support. She wants to go PRT for that, but Winslow, and she is a little short."

Bia snorted "So she would get the fuck stomped out of her in basic and if she didn't quit she would be medical boarded out. Yeah I knew a couple that happened to. They already went to work for the Watch."

Amanda nodded "We need a list of any more of those and if any are in the area we can hire them. Our trainers are better and Skitter and Physis can heal them then optimize them. I'll text Alexandria."

Taylor held her hand out and Sophia put her phone in it "Where is the other one."

Sophia blinked "Doesn't the PRT have your digits already?"

Taylor pinked "Duh issue phone. OK, here hit me up and we will spar. Let me put you in mine."

Sophia nodded "Your schedule is going to be busier than mine. OK, let me go find Cunt, ten."

Amy, of all people snarked "Is that a striker, breaker or changer?"

Taylor and Sophia simultaneously replied "Yes." Then looked at each other as the other girls laughed.

Dinah piped up "I hear for boys it's a Master."

"Ewww! We have to get that catholic school trained out of you. You are what twelve? Way too young for that." Crystal lectured while Dinah rolled her eyes. The expedition continued.


	28. Chapter 28

Reality Bites Worm

5.5

Thy looked at Taylor later in the lounge area of the open bay at the union hall that the girls had appropriated and expanded. "Taylor are you not sleeping at home because of me?"

Taylor blinked "What? I'm not sleeping at home? I'm not am I. Crap. No not because of you. I guess I am just comfortable here now as well. Everyone is here a lot, the showers are here. Dad is here when I get off school." Taylor sighed and shrugged. Then she looked at Thy, with her head tilted down a bit. "Did you want me to give you some space with Dad? I mean it doesn't freak me out or anything."

The other girls were looking a bit guilty as well. Thy chuckled. "No. I was wondering though, and I know Danny is wondering too. Even Dinah sleeps here a lot. Of course, it does make patrol easier, and Dinah's school is here until we get Arcadia's feeder on the right sheet of music. And then her mom works in operations a lot. In fact all the parents work here a lot. You should say something to your parents though girls. I think they are fine, I mean even Eric crashes up in the boy's dorms most nights the Spartans have patrol. I suspect the parents haven't said anything because-" She laughed at the fingers in the ears and the chorus of lalalala. "Babies. Say something to them though. It's the thought in this case."

"Now, Shadow Stalker?"

Taylor poked her tongue out at her "Wow, you are the evil stepmother. All sympathetic and helpful then the gross out! And really? Straight into this? I have no idea. I thought I would hate her but I don't? We will spar a little and see if her routine holds up when I kick her ass."

Thy nodded "And if she kicks yours? Or if she likes it?"

Amy replied immediately "I get to shoot her in the knee. Or give her herpes simplex five thousand. Depends." The women all awed and got rolled eyes from Taylor and Amy, along with blushes, they all snickered.

Lisa shrugged "It doesn't really matter does it? I mean she is way different since she 'got religion' as she says. Even Grue is having a hard time holding that grudge. Not so much Alec, he loved that couch. We told him not to get it in white."

Vista nodded like a bobble head "She is actually nearly human now." Vista had a bit of a thing about it still. Plus Sophia had been a horrible bitch to everyone, especially Vista. She had apologized though, a lot. It was getting embarrassing.

Thy leaned back "So, moving on. Why does the PHO have a notice that the Watch is looking to hire female veterans who were medically discharged, any age, in any condition, and from any stage in their career?"

Lisa blinked "How the hell did that happen? Oh we were talking about it in public. These people need more to do with themselves, aside from following us around with cameras. Well a job started is half finished. Now some advertisements in publications they might read, we will have to poll the first ones that show up about what they are reading or watching on television, that plus, we get the list from Alexandria, and we are in business."

Thy sighed and made a more gesture. They told her the story and she nodded "Yes we can work with that. Might even be some VA rehab dollars in it. Defray the cost of their training, and I think pays them a stipend. With your fathers running locked wide open solving the world's problems we can use the workers. They can do both, be troopers and hold down a job. Not like we need trigger pullers that often. Big missions are only like once a month. I think we need to make it all veterans though, not just the ones who were medically retired. We are going to have to take the guys too though. They can be auxiliary's for the Spartans maybe. Of course, they will all have to be vetted. We have got to get some therapist in here too. Damn, we will have to get the program accredited as well."

Vista piped up "The Protectorate uses Mrs. Yamada. If she doesn't have time she might know someone. She is pretty good. Wards have to talk to her once a quarter."

Thy nodded "Maybe she can train up some from the University psychiatry and psychology departments. I will work on Alan about his daughter. I have leverage. Physical and vocational therapist is what I meant though, especially if we are going to do rehab training for the VA."

Taylor leaned over and hugged her "Thy, you have leverage on Mother Theresa."

Thys grinned "I did. Then she died before I could use it."

Purity cackled "You are so going to hell."

Thy sniffed "Lawyer, it's my next practice."

The girls rolled around laughing as Thy untangled herself from Taylor and left the room.

Panacea looked around, "Do they not get that I am going to heal them all? If I don't do it Taylor can, well you can heal a lot of it. Job training is all they are going to need."

Vista laughed "OK, no they don't because I didn't really. We shouldn't claim anything other than you two healing all you can. You might run into some you actually can't."

Amy looked aghast "I can heal anyone if I get clean DNA. One complete strand is all I need. Well and the biomass to work with. We got that figured out though."

Taylor frowned "Healed over traumatic amputations included?" Amy nodded. "You are going to have to show me that one Amy. I can't even wrap my head around how that would go. Mine isn't as good as yours. I think I trump off you." Amy grinned and opened her mouth. Taylor pout her hand over it and gave her a look.

Lisa looked at Rachel who shrugged "Service dogs, they are onboard. The school liked the idea of having Hellhounds on campus even. So I can go see what Arcadia is like. Not that I won't still do some school work here as well. We will get a yes from Universities for psychologist. Maybe for psychiatry students as well. That is a hard field to break into, takes years of work, and spotless vetting to make it to the top levels and the real money. We might have some churn as the Protectorate and PRT hire the ones that start with us away."

Lucy drummed her fingers, and commented "Mrs. Standard is already a miracle worker, might as well keep that up," then shrugged "Churn, like you need any more school work here. Anyway, GS wages from the government. They would make more with us. Even with paying for their own insurance. Pretty sure Union Man will do a deal on that and get them a group rate. That should hold down the 'churn' we might lose some though, private practice, even contracting to the government will be competitive, but that wouldn't be too bad. BBU has physical and vocational therapy programs as well. And a nursing school. We can talk to them. Those schools are always looking to place students."

RBW

Eidolon blew the front of the truck off and Jack Slash could be heard cursing a half a mile away. The fight escalated rapidly and was quite impressive. Bonesaw whimpered in the large culvert she had fled to. The eastern side of West Branch Iowa was nearly demolished. The Chicago PRT got the area cordoned off a couple hours into the fight but not fast enough as the Nine escaped to fight another day. Well the six of them that were left escaped. In all different directions. Eidolon could only chase one.

RBW

The wards watched as Skitter and Shadow Stalker went at it all out, nothing off limits. Then they watched as Sophia was put back together grinning like an idiot. Flechete summed up "OK, so not doing that. I knew she was a little gung ho, but that is just flat crazy."

Vicky chuckled behind her "You are so mine."

Flechete jumped then elbowed the laughing girl twice in quick succession. Vicky bent over slightly with an 'oof' on the second one. She grinned and made a 'bring it' gesture. Vicky pouted at her.

Amy was prodding Shadow Stalker "This one is mine, you need to find your own. How can you love getting beaten to a pulp? How do you not know that fighting isn't flirting yet?" Taylor had one hand over her face and the other on Sophia's arm.

Mrs. Standard walked up and looked at Mark who nodded "OK folks. A special treat today. Testing. Knowledge testing."

Dennis sighed "This is bulogus." Mrs. Standard had scowled at him. She wasn't a teacher you got away with things on.

Mrs. Standard smiled "Be that as it may. Come with me." Mark and Leslie had to laugh. It looked like she was leading them to a firing squad.

RBW

Emily Piggot limped into the infirmary next to the Union Hall. Amy rolled her eyes "We won't hurt you. Come on."

Emily glared "I am doing this under protest, and only because the orders came from Director Costa-Brown. It was either this or retire." The girls nodded seriously.

Lieutenant Johnson had to grin. They were such little tin pot dictators in here. Sweetest girls ever running around in the yard, being goofy teenage girls, then so competent it was scary on patrol. She hoped for daughters like that someday. Phhht. If she could find a partner worth the effort.

Parian came over with an assortment of Uniforms. She had been around the madness enough to know from the diagnoses how much weight they were going to use up, if the person had that mass even, or pack on if they didn't, so brought that size, one up from that estimate and one down.

RBW

Coil dropped a time line and sat for a moment, or several, as his body worked through the actions necessary for this one. This was becoming a bit of a challenge. Lung was seriously pissed off and held a grudge like a preschooler. When he managed to find Coil or one of the bases he grew immense and attacked relentlessly. He finding the bases was happening more often as well. This needed some thought.

RBW

Director Emily Piggot looked at the documents on her tablets screen. "An ABB Brothel and the E88 dogfighting facility."

Taylor frowned "All the AAB brothels, along with all the dog fighting facilities, we did do plans for all of them right?"

Lucy nodded "The casino as well."

Emily sighed "All of them at the same time. And you want us to hold off and watch for Coil." Emily took a shot "If you have a cash flow problem Skitter-"

Skitter snorted "I have a whore house problem Director, more specifically my team has a whore house problem. A dog fighting problem too. Not that I don't have the same problem. My range is good enough, we have enough knock outs and monitor bugs. They are going down. Dinah came up with tonight being the best night. We have been working on the planning for a while so that's already done besides minor changes. We have war gamed it and done the rock drills. The casino is just because the whore houses pissed us off. If we could figure out something else of the Empires we would hit it too."

Emily sighed "Well, you are balancing the attacks on Lung with attacking one of the main means the Empire uses to make money. They don't just fight dogs in those pits. Most of the rest of their income is protection. Hard to hit that without hurting regular people.

"Well moving vast quantities of the precursors for drug production. We have never been able to prove that though. Medhall reports all the 'thefts' and bitches at us constantly about it."

Danny agreed "And Lung is having to be contained every night or so anyway. Has anyone found out what that is about?"

Lisa laughed "He is after Coil. He apparently holds him personally responsible for what happened in New York with Susan. Coil apparently did the plan. I think he intends to eat him.

"Coil holds a small territory right on the edge of Empire space, along with two others in the same type of commercial areas splitting the nominal territories, a part they don't really care about as it is all commercial buildings. The Empire also left him alone, as did Lung, because he acted as a buffer between them, but wasn't taking anything from them. That they wanted anyhow.

"The Empire can't let Lung advance into their territory though, it would create a salient in their lines. If he could hold it, it would give him a springboard deep into their most profitable, highest prestige, territory. That's why they have been cooperating with us, without saying they are of course. They are really using us and the PRT for resources to help suppress Lung. Tonight you simply stop containing him and we don't help. When he is deep in Empire territory and they are fully engaged we will move on the assets.

He will have to disengage against the Empire and them with him to move against us. Hopefully they will be spent by then. Hope not being a method we have Taylor and a couple of roving swarms after we hit the fixed targets and as a backup, the trucks and Athena for fire missions. BBPD is read on.

"Then as the ABB withdraws we will take them down and maybe Lung too. Hopefully we will get some Empire coming in to defend their fighting pits. We will take them down as well."

Purity whistled "Well, Kaiser was always a crafty bastard. Hard to believe he is pulling using us and the PRT off." She looked at Emily.

Emily shrugged "We know he is doing it, however the Empire is why we have been holding Lung on ground he owns. The Empire keeps one side, or depending where Lung throws his latest tantrum, two sides, and we hold the rest. Plus, it helps alienate his own people. It also winnows down the Empire to the truly hard core. The others don't want to fight Lung. Amazingly sensible of them.

"However it is reaching the point where something has to be done.

"We have been working on a plan like this, we do have the manpower available right now. We had not gotten ready quite yet. This will work out nicely. If it works.

"We noticed some movement by the city to condemn Lungs properties, and much of his territory as well. Something about a sale and imminent domain? Anything you want to tell us Skitter?" Emily arched a brow looking up at Taylor from the map spread on the conference table.

Taylor shrugged "No idea. You would have to talk to my attorneys." Emily shot her another eyebrow.

Thy raised her hands "Not me, it's the REIT I think."

Danny, the chair of the REIT, shrugged "Looked like an opportunity." Taylor sighed. Amy patted her on the back.

Emily asked "And this isn't insider trading how?"

Danny grinned wolfishly "No insider trading in real estate, just highest bidder wins it. Well, somebody else would have to be willing to bid on stuff last owned by Lung. I think we are good though."

Emily nodded "You have Farmer and Sunshine watching him don't you. And if he moves the wrong way they are going to stick one in his head and one in his heart aren't they."

"Nah. Farmer is over at the range and Sunshine is off." Danny looked like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

"They aren't the only crazy former Delta Force operators you have around here!"

"Oh! Those guys. No, some kind of reunion or something."

"And SEAL team BB?"

"Uh, I'm not sure where those guys got off to. I'm sure they are fine." Taylor executed a tactical withdrawal. Thy face palmed.


	29. Chapter 29

Reality Bites Worm

6.0

"Skitter, Dodona, all units are in place."

"Roger, knockout in five seconds." Taylor watched the world through her bugs, super coons, and the few birds she had gotten to work.

Ravens if you could believe it. Specifically, Northern Ravens. Five mated pairs of them since she had gotten the first one, a female of one of the mated pairs. The young ones were a bit too mischievous. She could connect to them, but they preferred hanging out in the dump in a kind of gang. Though they did pair up and then wander off to establish a territory and Taylor stayed connected. They also made better relays than the white oak beetles. Amy had managed to befriend? Make into pets? The first pair and had walked around with them on her shoulders for a couple of days then boosted them. After that the mated pairs stopped by Amy one pair at a time. Taylor wasn't even directing that.

Unfortunately, Northern Ravens preferred undisturbed forest or mountains for habitat, somewhat limiting the population. Though locally they could become large populations if they had enough food and nesting places. The females could lay up to seven eggs, and with five pairs, good sources of food, plenty of abandoned places to nest, and the mild local climate, that was thirty-five young ravens a year, which then took a couple of years to become breeding pairs. Which then lived another eighteen to twenty years. It ramped up pretty quickly. As things in Brockton Bay seemed wont to do. The first pairs had shown up at the dump ten years ago, or so local lore had it. Very few young were lost to predation as the Ravens were very intelligent, hugely aggressive, large enough, and well-armed by mother nature, enough to back that aggression up. They were in fact omnivorous predators. The youth gang in the dump terrorized the seagulls, killing and eating the young, sick, slow, or sick ones, rats, mice, and other small animals as well. Roadkill was no longer a problem in the area either. The dump provided the omnivorous raven pairs with plenty of easy food. The Brockton Bay ravens were on their way to pest status. The seagulls were hating life. The rats moved to the boat graveyard.

Taylor sent in the paired knockout and monitors. The monitors were really just a knockout that stayed with its stinger inserted after the original knockouts target hit the floor unconscious. She kept swarms ready as the four brothels, one casino, and one dogfighting building were searched. She winced "Let's move over to the dog fighting building Leslie. I am going to have to help Amy." There were both human and canine casualties at the dogfighting area. The other dogfighting areas they had found were empty, at least of people. They were still searched however. Leslie was one of the medically retired PRT veterans they had recently hired, and Amy had healed, then augmented. She was the leader of the Watch truck section.

Leslie nodded and the truck along with its wing truck moved out. The two trucks of the other section of the headquarters platoon set in over watch. Purity came up on the net "Dogfighting building as bad as you thought then?"

"Yes. Worse even. OK we got this. Everybody start inventory and recording." Taylor nodded at everyone going to work.

Armsmaster was at the casino looking for Lung "Well some of our political problems are over, or just got way worse." Taylor looked at the screen and heard Legend and Dragon start analyzing what the result of three senators being in an illegal casino would be.

Lisa snorted "Don't they have brothels in DC? I got two, no three, more politicians over here. Not local, national, oh and a couple of state ones too."

Lucy came up on the net "You think that's interesting? I just froze eighty-three accounts linked to these dog fighting people's computers. Millionaires to billionaires, what the hell. Aren't there like MMA leagues and tournaments and stuff? I know I saw something about it on the state gaming commission web site."

Amanda added "The security on these computers at the casino should have been better. I'm up to seventy-six and the worm just started."

Taylor smiled at Purity's cheering as they stopped at the building the dogfighting had been in. She came up on the net as she got out of the truck. She couldn't tell whether some of these people were males or females from her sources. "OK bring the girls, the trafficked people, from the brothels I guess, here, Physis and I will look at them. Any bangers you find as well. We will sort them out while we get this crap inventoried. Let the cops take the prisoners away after pictures. We got lucky here and put the capes down at the same time as the other people."

Thy replied "These, or most of them, will be out on bail shortly. It will take years for them to work through the court cases this brings up. Holy cow this is a lot of cash. That alone is going to be a setback for the ABB and E88."

Legend was on the net along with Alexandria and Dragon "Yes, not to mention all of their capes ending up arrested. Good thing the seizure is going to be so lucrative or we would run out of money prosecuting these."

Taylor frowned under her mask "Are these capes going to get the revolving door treatment?"

Alexandria answered "No, Not the ABB anyway. Not after that crap in New York. He was, they were on their, past their last chance really. Lung won't fight Endbringers, Oni Lee never has. The E88 always has but we are going to make a different arrangement. Endbringer fights and their participation in them, will reduce their sentences. If they fight ten times, their sentence for less than murder will be commuted to time served. If they are convicted of murder using parahuman powers they are probably going to the Birdcage. They may get the deal, if they aren't Kaiser. The prosecutors want him pretty bad."

Danny came up on the net "That new prison we are building will be finished just in time for these then."

Taylor sighed "It's going to be a zoo around here this summer. You just know the idiots will try to fill in where the Empire and ABB used to be. Or be idiots and try to break these ones out."

Athena came up "Trucks two one through three four stand by for fire mission. I have control of your guns."

Taylor looked at her HUD unfocusing on the patient she was treating "Seriously, a whole crowd of them? What do they think they can do? And ABB mixed with Empire? What the hell?" It was nice to know her subconscious, or something kept feeding the command net information even as she was busy doing something else.

The plan had worked with the exception of Lung had stayed put in the casino. He went down to the knockouts like everyone else. Albeit fifteen of them. Armsmaster had found him in an office on the upper floor and added a dose of a special tranquilizer. Taylor was paying attention to that monitor hornet. Whatever that stuff did it put Lung barely alive.

The guns opened up and Emily laughed "Find out what Watch foam looks like from the inside?"

Athena replied "Nope that is PRT foam. We wanted to use it so we could dissolve them out one or two at a time. We weren't sure how many assets we would have for how long."

Two blocks of streets disappeared under eight feet of foam. Emily cackled a bit "So that will keep the little bastards from getting away. We can dissolve them out one at a time and process them. Nice. I am so glad we got you all that. Glad to see it worked too."

Danny laughed "Look at all of us working together. Another five years of this and it will be a nice place to live again."

Alexandria snorted "In five years we can have most of the Protectorate working like this, I hope. So, Thy, what is the estimate?"

Thy answered a bit stunned "Thirty-seven million dollars, cash and frozen assets so far. We got the right end of the string. We keep pulling and stuff keeps unraveling. I think we got all the E88 capes aside from Victor and Othala. We for sure got all the ABB capes."

"Victor and Othala texted me. They want to talk terms." Bia offered.

Purity sighed "Anyone besides Storm Tiger, Hookwolf, and Cricket, we can probably arrange terms for. Well, not Krieg or Kaiser, but they wouldn't ask for terms in the first place. Night and Fog either but they left. Victor is going to do time though, hard time, in that new prison Union Man is so proud of."

Lisa, who had walked up to Taylor, and at Thy's estimate had rubbed her temples, said "That isn't all their money. A lot of it is other peoples. It's like they were running a laundry somehow."

Dragon spoke up "That's exactly what it is, one stage in a money laundry. A big one. Seven hundred million dollars so far and now we are getting into large national and international organization. It's growing exponentially. We just put a serious hurt on most of the organized villains. The Elite especially. I have a list of names and am sending it to Chief Director Costa Brown. If we move fast, we can roll up a lot of the illegal operations."

Legend smiled "Finally. Now maybe I can pin something on Bastard Son while the others aren't providing cover for him."

Thy added "The IRS is going to compete over these assets, this keeps growing. It's, touching billions of dollars now, two major banks, insurance companies, venture capital firms. In just the last seconds we touched another nine million dollars. It's like we took out an under layer and the other layers are collapsing into it."

Dragon supplied "The dollars involved in crime just in America, well, it's in the trillions. This has already gone international. It's going to be a feeding frenzy among the governments."

Amanda asked "So, if we freeze all their money and the IRS confiscates it, does that mean they are going to be using public defenders instead of their normal top gun lawyers?"

Thy and Brandish conferred for a moment then Brandish offered, "After the first check bounces, probably. Though a judge may make them keep the case. This would overwhelm all the public defenders. The smart firms will pull out tomorrow morning. Some of the less reputable firms may try asset recovery. That won't help the villains much though, mainly it will go to the firms.

Taylor snorted "So, I don't have to be a thinker to figure out Bastard Son will be heading this way. Lucy let's get some brain bugs into New York City. Last report had him softening up the opposition there. We still have the ones on the high-speed avenue to Albany. I'll let them spread out a bit and start cutting off the secondary routes. The ravens can move some for us. Good thing we don't have an airport."

Legend nodded "I'll be chasing him anyway. I think I want to have a talk with him."

Alexandria added "So do I. But I may be a bit busy rolling up the operation on the west coast. What the hell, how were they all tied together and we didn't know at all?"

Lisa laughed "They didn't know either. Number Man tied it all together in some complex scheme. They are going to go after him first. Rightly so actually, as this should not have collapsed an adequately backed up and prepared plan. Even though it was attacked by multiple thinkers and tinkers.

"One good thing, we have the politicians by the balls. Even if they didn't participate directly they accepted campaign donations from these people and organizations. All the way down to local politicians it looks like. The worm is finding them all. Damn. I know we worked hard on that design but it is relentless. As long as the parameters we programmed into it hold up in court, well this is going to be bad."

Thy sighed "They will hold up. The people that checked them are thinkers who are forensic accountants and lawyers. The IRS even gave them a look. Let me amend that, they will hold up in tax court."

Danny laughed and laughed "Isn't that how they sent Al Capone to jail? They got him on taxes and then piled on a bunch of other stuff once they had him."

Lucy asked "Who, oh never mind, I Googled him. Crap, yes they did." Danny was still laughing on the net.

Alexandria and Legend were having a side bar over Triumvirate communications provided by Cauldron. Contessa came into this conversation "Number Man is unconscious. What happened?"

Legend informed her and the channel went silent. Finally, Contessa sighed "Yes, this will be a problem. The path has changed. Radically. We need to meet as soon as you can."

Alexandria chuckled, then laughed, then laughed a bit hysterically really. Contessa peevishly asked, "Perhaps the rest of us could share your good humor?"

Alexandria snorted "What are you a teacher? I'm not your unruly student. The Watch just became the single wealthiest organization on the planet. Their fifteen percent is untouchable by law, its fifteen percent of the gross. The IRS is going to dig in and find every penny and seize it. The amount will be public record. We can't stop it and can only tap it after the fact.

"It's a good thing Number man is off the planet. He can never come back here I think."

There was a shocked silence then a groan from Contessa. Legend was chuckling "I think we have to add to Skitters rating. Breaker, ten plus, Luck."


	30. Chapter 30

Reality Bites Worm

6.1

Taylor was inordinately pleased. The others were looking at her and grinning. She was laying out on the 'private' beach they had constructed where the first filter dozer had started working at one of the storm drain outlets into the bay. Lisa rolled her eyes "OK, just for confirmation, because you love school, what has you so freaking happy?"

Taylor looked down at her bikini top "Boobs."

The others broke up laughing. Amy rolled her eyes "I told you all that angst was for nothing. Your mother had them, so did her mother. You were bound to get them."

"Phhtttt Have you seen Aisha? She is what twelve? Got a body like Vicky." Taylor returned. Amy rolled her eyes.

Lucy chuckled "Well, while admiring Taylors delicious looking body is fun, should we talk about what we are doing besides that this summer?"

Vicky shrugged "Patrolling, winnowing through hundreds of applicants. Knowing we won't turn any of them away, getting them into teams, trained, onto work crews, and patrolling. Checking if they are powered. Finding things their powers can help with outside of patrolling. Keeping Sophia from raping Taylor and Amy from killing her."

Amy growled "If she keeps on I am going to give her to Taylor for her birthday."

Taylor pouted "Why not Christmas? That's nearly a whole year away!"

Amy gave her a look "You are still figuring out what to do with this year's birthday present." Taylor rolled over on her as she squawked.

Heidi laughed "Play rough apparently."

Amanda rolled her eyes "Between all the parents and their deals I think taking care of the girls that show up is quite enough."

Kate threw a bath sheet over Amy and Taylor "Which is weird. I mean would you just show up somewhere and offer to be abused for six weeks? Don't forget the boys. The Spartans have another whole squad now."

"Taylor don't you dare!" Amy squirmed away "Public!" She turned to the others as Taylor curled around her body. "I agree. Though people do volunteer to join the armed forces and we do the same thing? I mean sure, training to be on a 'combat team' but also job training. Nobody just patrols. We do have a pretty full plate. Don't we?"

Crystal snickered "And some of us have horny girlfriends."

"I created a monster." Amy sighed "Who has a wandering eye" She leaned back on Taylor using her for a backrest. The others laughed and nodded.

Taylor pouted "You're the one who threatened to give her to me."

RBW

Thy looked at the screen "We are expanding the refinery why?"

Susan, Bakuda, answered "The devices installed produce more than ten thousand barrels a day fairly consistently. Only a thousand barrels or so but it builds up, it was either increase storage or increase capacity.

"With Gully coming to join the Watch we had decided to move storage underground, where it can be made both safer and more temperature stable. The monolithic forming machine will build the storage in an excavation Gully makes to bedrock.

"To do that we decided to double the capacity of the refinery and empty the crude from storage. It then can reduce its intake to match the well and filter machines production while we build the storage.

"Oh, the two monolithic forming machines working on the sea wall also produce crude oil but they are building storage and pipelines into the wall as they go. As it turns out a honeycomb type structure is stronger than a solid mass. They have been taking the excess we didn't have room for in the tank farm.

"They take our waste heat to heat the crude so it can still flow. Damn stuff turns to tar below about a hundred degrees C. plus the stuff they build has some residual heat from the process. The machines working the sea wall also dump heat into that storage along with anything they skim. Including plastics, which they treat as oil for some damn reason. The one we turned on in the dump is what drove it over the edge. We haven't even gotten to the sea dumping sites yet.

"Once the underground storage is built we can clear off the above ground tank farm and feed it to the steel mill. Where it was we are going to build a new refinery underground, with scalable capacity and it will be more efficient, as we clean that up down to bedrock as well. On top of it we can put the point of sale facilities for all the products that aren't being consumed in the chemical processes. We already feed the flare gas to generators and sell any electricity over what we need. That will take up about twenty acres, we can feed the current refinery and chemical plant to the steel mill then, the rest will be useable ground, scheduled for vegetable production right now. It will eventually be roofed over and have grow lights so it can produce year-round. The chemical plant will be collocated underground with the refinery and the point of sale for finished products will be on top of it in the same twenty-acre plot as the truck and rail terminal for the refinery."

Danny nodded "Then we will move on to the railyard and filter the soil under it to bedrock and move it underground. After that the power plant. Water works, all the industrial facilities."

Sarah finished reviewing the plan "OK, got it. Why?"

Danny shrugged "Access control, temperature controlled storage, less exposure to random acts of idiocy. The bedrock here is stable granite. The stuff the machines produce is even more stable than that. The area we have acquired, or Taylor has acquired, is well drained and this will allow us to put people and agriculture in the sun. Fruit and nut trees, vegetable production. Some very nice apartment blocks. Arthur has done excellent work.

"That section of town behind the boardwalk is actually on the aquifer, that's why we haven't bought any property there, well that and the owners think it is the 'good' section of town and want too much money. Hard to build on, you have to drive piles a hundred and fifty feet deep and pour concrete rafts twenty feet thick. Some guy in Chicago came out with that for building on bad ground there back when skyscrapers were becoming a thing.

"The geologist tell us it is all filled in salt marsh over a layer of clay which is on top of the sands of the aquifer. One earthquake and it will all go liquid, bad enough, and it will slump into the bay in front of the boardwalk. I guess the buildings that stay standing will be on stilts in a marsh or tidal flat then. You need to be up in the hills a bit to be on good building ground. The train yard and docks section, plus the area around Captain's Hill took all of that. The cheaper ground is in the docks area.

Arthur nodded "Not having to do that foundation work and these devices of Big Rig and L33t's, our own steel mill, metal refineries and mills, concrete plant using the minerals we get from desalination and the heat we get from power generation and the metal mills, make it low cost as well. The unskilled labor gets done by machine. The acquisitions we are doing in the dock area will finally come together in tracts, as people sell out to move to the new neighborhood and we can rebuild that area next. Using this down to bedrock, mine for chemicals and useful material technique. Then the land can be formed to fit the use and the foundations for the buildings can come up from bedrock. If we don't commit the basements to the residents of the buildings our industry can use them, for warehousing as well as production. Since we are down at bedrock already it's easy to connect them all with tunnels, tunnels big enough for trucks and trains. With overhead catenary and scissor type pickups they don't even need to burn fuel down there making air management easier."

Purity nodded "Open spaces are much harder for enemies to operate in as we found out at Cornell. That's aside from them being much more esthetically pleasing and keeping the population happier."

Carol nodded "It's not exactly supportive of the American dream of home ownership though."

Thy shrugged "Thirty years of mortgage payments or thirty years of rent to own. Does it really matter? Co-ops are a known thing here in the north east. Membership in good standing with the tenant's association and they own it in the end. We reap, or the LLC reaps the rewards and we don't have a bank taking interest payments. They all get a plot of ground they can use for a garden if they want. They also get the advantage of lower payments."

Mark Dallon nodded "And the requirement that they work somewhere in the Union makes it all possible. Or have a family member that does and that they do their banking at the credit union."

Danny nodded "It's not like we don't have a crying need for people. We've hired a thousand people already. The bottleneck is the vetting and legal process. The training is both classes and on the job, and goes pretty quickly. The vocational test we give them sorts them to their best fields, or the ones that mesh with their abilities best, capes and normal."

Neil asked "Zombi land?"

Danny laughed "If we ever run out of people to train in it twenty-four hours a day, The Army and Marine Corps have booked all the slots we and the PRT aren't using now, Uber and L33t have a plan to turn it into an amusement park paintball course kind of a thing. Twenty-five bucks a person teams of up to eleven and fight your way across to the other side. It looks fun in the simulation they built. It will employ about a thousand people by itself from cleaners to instructors. It will look like downtown large city America changing over to suburbia and then small-town America in the far North West. Hard light projection so it can be programmed for anything. That is how it is changing now due to some requirements from some of the organizations using it. For the Army and Marines there is even the underground of a large city.

"There is some discussion of breaking it up into lanes for more though put. We are working that way. The control crews overseeing training can work it for a team then a different crew in training can take them and their combat crew down a lane as opposing forces.

Susan shrugged "And us mining it for anything useful."

Kathryn Alcott smiled "And you being able to make anything, or nearly anything, useful that means we are replacing the key buildings with permanent set pieces."

Danny smiled and leaned back just as his earpiece when off "Boss we have a problem at the main gate."

Danny immediately got up and strode out. Susan followed him juggling a pair of devices. Danny was her champion and she knew it. She wasn't about to let anything happen to him. The others didn't hesitate and followed along.

RBW

Tyrone looked at the young girl who had walked up and sat down on the curb. He knew who the blond headed girl in the child's bloody apron dress and Maryjane shoes was. "Stay right there Miss. I got some help on the way."

Bonesaw looked at him and smiled. Then she eased down on the paved area in front of the guard house and went to sleep. Danny arrived about then. Tyrone looked at him and shrugged making a motion with both hands beside his face. Thy shook her head "We can only construe she means to surrender to the Watch."

Susan nodded and tossed a device "Fire in the hole." Everyone scrambled away then looked back when the strange effect went off. Susan shrugged "Time stopped and encased in amber. No sense take chances."

Danny gave her a one-armed hug "Good thinking. Uh, you can get her out right?"

Susan nodded and held up the other device "Easy."

"Tyrone get a fork truck and flatbed over here will you?" Danny asked. Tyrone nodded, already picking up the phone. "OK let me get with Mark and we will step up security until we figure out what is going on."

Carol pinched the bridge of her nose "Fuck, my life." Thy cackled. Sarah patted her sister on the back.


	31. Chapter 31

Reality Bites Worm

6.2

Taylor looked at the girl in the amber and sighed "So any word from anyone's sources yet?"

Thy nodded "Eidolon caught them in open ground, and got damn serious, apparently. It scattered them and Bonesaw ended up on a train. Who actually knows how, she would have to jump damn near her own height vertically to make it to a car. Some evidence suggest the Siberian put her there, then disappeared. The train got to the railyard here, stopped, and she figured out where she was, then walked to the front gate of the DWU.

"Jack Slash went to ground somewhere. Mannequin was dropped down a mineshaft, but apparently isn't dead, The Bounty hunters have him right where they want him apparently. Or, you know, he has them. One or the other. We will see how that actually turns out. Crawler is, of course, still out there. The Bounty hunters are tracking him, like it's some kind of western or something. Shatterbird and the Siberian are gone. At least the bounty hunters can't find them. The rest of the Nine have been turned in for the rewards."

L33t grinned "The bounty hunters know where Crawler is?"

Uber glared at him "No, just no. You aren't using that freaking rocket to shoot him at the Simurgh."

"It will so work!" L33t whined a bit.

Taylor pinched the bridge of her nose. "How are you going to strap him to it, or it to him?" L33t blinked then whipped out a notebook and started scribbling madly.

RBW

Legend blinked at the girl in amber. In this case, back in amber. Thy continued her explanation "So, anyway, we have been getting her out, Taylor and Amy have been disarming her and we have talked to her a bit. She surrendered to the Watch."

Legend sat in the chair by the block of amber "Jessica Yamada thinks she can be 'cured' and that she was not responsible for her actions."

Taylor shrugged "None of which matters until we can get the rest of the Nine into orbit. She is going to draw Jack Slash like molasses draws flies."

Legend looked the tablet in front of him "This will really work?"

Sherrel shrugged "Not and leave them alive. I mean, an open cage, twenty G? Being as it's the Nine do we really care though? I mean we don't. The PRT and Protectorate might? Crawler might live through it, but then, well, he'll be in orbit. I don't think his regeneration can work for ever, if it does the Simurgh hasn't liked sharing orbits much. Mannequin might live but we can boost him to a Mars intercept course and see how he does landing there."

"L33t wants to aim Crawler at the Simurgh. He thinks one of them will kill the other."

Legend shrugged a bit helplessly "You are going to do it anyway, aren't you?"

Taylor nodded "Looks like, the government has even offered us a million dollars apiece on the ones we can space, in addition to the rewards already on them. Bit of a race between us and the bounty hunters really. We have lines of brain bugs advancing to the locations the thinkers came up with so will eventually run across them. Or they can make it easy on us and come here.

"Mean while, we are a bit busy. Have you ever seen this one hundred fifty-page plan from this Accord guy? It looks like it would in fact feed the world. We are going to implement as much of it as we can. These assassinations and hostage takings are out, we can sideline most of those people though. They are already implicated in the collapsed dirty money thing. We were kind of leaning that way anyhow. Using everything but the squeal, as Tyrone says, and with it all linked together and feeding all the parts, it's amazing how much profit you can squeeze out of something, even at low margins. Or rather, what would be low margins for other operations."

Legend blinked "Accord is a villain."

Taylor nodded "Doesn't stop his plan from working. We are trying to package it up and export it to India. Pakistan, somewhere like that. We'll build a Watch Tower there and see what happens. Thy is on the lookout for a good female lawyer in one of those countries."

"How do you get the farmers to cooperate with the plan?" Legend was curious.

Taylor blushed "Strong arm tactics sort of. We broke down what we need them to do. When and if they do it we buy from them at good prices. If they don't we don't. The university agriculture department reviewed it and agrees with us and the breakdown. Some of their sister schools in neighboring states too, so it sort of took off. Once they are one of our associates, they get supplies, fuel, all kinds of stuff at barely any profit from us, and sell us their crops or animals. We pay at least market and it kind of drove the other food companies out of the business. We had to start canning and bottling lines. We may all drown in apple juice this fall."

"Meanwhile Susan got the damn coal miners in Pennsylvania in on it as she needed some product you get from coal, so I apparently bought a coking mill and blast furnace. And open cast mines. I had to look that up. Somehow, we put them in agricultural production, well, after mining anything remotely toxic from them for something Susan does, improving the soil with sludge from hundreds of sewage works and feedlot lagoons. So, half of them are mines and half are turning into farms the University of Pennsylvania runs, or tells us how to run really. We hire hundreds of people for that and Sherrel tinks up tractors and trucks. Oh, and combines. Case axial flow combines. Those things are dangerous. All that chaff flying out the back at the speed of sound. More like a quarter and three quarters really as we only need the working face open. These giant diggers and dozers pile up the over burden and grind in the stuff as they advance through the face. Apparently, we just pile up the coke as we want the by products from making it. Fortunately, our blast furnace can use it, and we are cleaning out scrap yards all around Pennsylvania. The North East and New England really. Down to bedrock and putting the dirt back clean. You can't imagine how much stuff is in the dirt under a junkyard. It does increase our profits on them though and the EPA gives us money for it, sometimes the State as well. More stuff for the ag departments of the universities to turn to farming and us to hire workers for.

"Oh, tar as well. That's just crazy, we take the heat from the blast furnace and heat this thing like a coke oven and get pine tar and charcoal. We apparently want the tar but all kinds of people want the charcoal. Plus, we can do it with sawdust, chipped limbs from logging, any old kind of pine or fir. Did you know there are trees you can farm? There are. First we get tar, then if we do it a different way, use the heat from the coking to cook it in water sort of, we get cellulose which of course goes to the paper mill. Lignin, which Susan and the meat processors use, not sure I want to know what for, and all kinds of stuff."

"Phenols out the ass. From the coking too. Of course, we use those in the chemical plant, mostly on the polycarbonates. Though I'm not sure we can even call them that anymore. Susan and her group have been doing so much work."

Legend looked at her "Do you even know how many people you employ?"

Taylor blushed "The Union keeps up with that. I know how much I pay for the union to operate the facilities and maintain them. So, all the jobs are belong to me?"

Legend smiled gently "So if the Union goes on strike?"

"Hey! I pay a fair wage and give great medical. Dental they are on their own." She smiled impishly "Besides they would get awful hungry awful fast." Legend sighed.

Taylor smirked "Now once I get shipping running through the portal Sherrel and L33t are working on, I can do it in Europe, India, China, and Africa somewhere and BAM! I own the world Muhahahaha."

Legend rubbed one temple "Oh god, where is Physis? Does Dr. Yamada know you are a megalomaniac?"

"Phhttt. Just because it didn't work out for the Triumvirate and I have more power, because I make the toilet paper, doesn't mean you get to rat me out to my girlfriend!"

"Why you! Hey, what the hell? No bugs! How is that fair?"

Vicky looked at Amy as Legend flew by with Taylor in hot pursuit "Something you want to tell me Ames?"

"My girlfriend is nuts?" Amy shrugged.

Vicky nodded "Obviously we need to take her to the beach and oil her. That calms her." Amy nodded.

AN: Short, but, Merry Christmas to all and to all, good night.


	32. Chapter 32

Reality Bites Worm

6.3

Accord blinked and reread the message. Modifications to his plan? He opened the file and read the document. He sat back thinking. It was a small-scale initial implementation. Completely nested though, cradle to grave, literally, prenatal vitamins to coffins and cremation services. He opened his browser and looked up the Watch. He nodded "Impressive. Hmmm. If I knew what resources they had I could perhaps refine this."

He typed an email and sent it. "Of course, I will have to see the personalities involved."

RBW

"So, the array reports once a day and if the connex hasn't been unloaded it can be stopped in time again." Susan concluded.

The Representative from the Union Pacific nodded "And all we would need to do to stop that in order to unload is move it to a refrigerated warehouse."

Susan nodded "Or put in the safeties and remove the panels. It would take a while to come up to a safe temperature from zero degrees and the panel to reach whatever point you set it at as well. The panels could then be saved for that connex again or moved to a different one of the connexs you get from us. Once they are sold to you they are yours. They are good for a day, a week, or a month at shot. Thirty days, thirty weeks, or twelve months."

The BNSF representative nodded "And you have been using this on connex containers from outlying farms?"

Susan nodded "And it will get a workout at harvest time as we plan to timestop the whole crop. Separated into different connex so it can be shipped where it's needed, and for different periods so it can be fed into the processing facilities for preparation and sale fresh or canning. Those will be time stopped as they are loaded and the time recorded. The farmer will pick what time duration he uses, anywhere from twelve hours to twelve months. That way he will always have fresh produce for stores or canners he sells too."

The CSX representative had picked up on something else "And inside the connex time is stopped, nothing can be added or removed. So, if a thief gets in they can't take anything."

Susan smiled "And it can't be damaged in transit."

The Union Pacific rep looked at the engine sitting on the tracks behind them "We'll take all of them. And that is a steam engine, burning coal?"

Susan nodded "Coke actually. It has a steam turbine running a generator. It's a condensing engine so we don't have to blow down. We already took the scale minerals and oxygen from the water, The tender has the condenser and its whells are driven by traction motors as well. We have a coke mill we needed for some other things. One of our tinkers is steam oriented. He found this old locomotive and it was gutted. He reworked it and put a steam turbine driving the generator through reduction gearing. It's a closed system and recovers both the water and the heat so surprisingly little coke is used. The exhaust is heat extracted as well and the exhaust is clean enough to meet EPA standards even burning coal. It is pretty useful around the yard here. It actually has a tinked portal in the firebox feeding it coke and one under the grate returning the ash as we have a use for that too."

The CSX rep perked right up "You have specs? What does coke cost?"

Susan laughed "Well gentlemen, if you want to do that, we could lease traction and you could pay us for the coal, We can make the furnaces do what we want. Coal is about forty dollars a ton whereas coke is about two hundred and thirty, at least market."

All three started asking about when they could have their first locomotive. After they had all ordered five thousand time stop forty foot intermodal containers The difference in a ton of diesel fuel and a ton of coal being seven hundred dollars or so. Even if it was coke fueled it would be a great deal.

Trainwreck was so happy that evening he had to be adjusted by Amy twice. The tinkers at Toybox were so happy they ask about joining the union. Lisa had to have a lie down seeing all the synergies that were possible, leather, food, animal control, wood products, all aside from the tinker tech.

RBW

Taylor smiled at the first of the smart dogs coming in with a line of strays following her and her vest on. She would have to work on the cats next.

A truck drove in with a super coon sitting on the platform in the passenger seat. Taylor knew it was full of bugs. Pharaoh ants in a box of their own and then all kinds of pest bugs and rodents in the other containers. The truck was a Watch pest control truck, when you went on vacation you called. They stopped by and went through a process clearing your house of everything from dust mites to raccoons in the attic if you had them, and everything in between. While a crew emptied your house and cleaned it. They would repaint and remodel if you wanted as well. The insects were either useful for something or food for the spiders. Then a representative met you with your house key when you came back. Apartments they could do while you were at work. Businesses on the weekend or overnight.

Taylor had been scared they were going to run out of bugs to feed the weavers but with word spreading and the trucks able to travel to NYC and Boston it didn't look like a problem. The problem now was they only had so many trucks and super coons. Each one doing jobs as fast as they could.

OK, well, panel trucks were always for sale and the shops could fix them right up. The Super coons were pregnant so that would ease that situation soon. Plus, she had gotten bee's and more hornets out of the deal.

The brain bug's were breeding slowly but surely. Taylor was keeping a lid on them a bit. She didn't want them crowding out the regular white oak borers. They were smarter and competed harder as well as being less susceptible to predation.

"We need a swarm transport truck." Taylor said thoughtfully

Sherrel nodded "For winter. Yeah. Let me work on that. It could transport ammo and equipment spares too. We have a bunch of Mack B series tractors and moving van trailers for them. Low floors so perfect for that. I'll build one out."

Taylor nodded and kept walking to the Escalade. She and Amy were off to their daily hospital visit.

RBW

Kendra Wilks looked over the crime reports and shook her head "This keeps up and we will be out of a job Ernie."

Ernie Pyle, his father had a sense of humor, it's a wonder he hadn't triggered, nodded "Drug addict numbers drop, dealer numbers drop, drug sales don't support the gangs. I wonder what those fucks will do for a living when they get out of jail? It aint like the DWU is going to hire them and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a cape patrol in this town. Watch, Spartans, Protectorate, the PRT squads that go with them. That training thing they run, patrols in that zombie land thing until they certify then patrols out in town for a week then off they go back home.

Kendra nodded "So winter time we pick up again then. The idiots will be getting out."

Ernie shrugged "Got a partner went into corrections. He says drug use in the county jail is near zero and his buddies in the state pen tell him the same thing with the new prisoners there. So much so they segregated them. The ones from here that is. Word is Physis and Skitter make them allergic to drugs, everyone they touch."

Kendra snorted "Half the cops in this city are near alcoholics. That can't be true. Those girls have shaken hands with everyone in the department."

Ernie shrugged and went back to the report he was looking at "I don't drink near as much anymore. I kind of like it."

Kendra drummed her fingers "I need to talk to Thy. Those guys will need jobs or we will be back where we started."

"First one pulls some shit on one of them girls that hang out at the docks gets drowned I bet. Them guys are still longshoremen. They still carry cargo hooks on their patrols even." Ernie opined.

Kendra rolled her eyes "'Them' girls work there too and I bet a bunch are capes. The Watch. I bet they can take care of it themselves."

"Hrmph."

"Curmudgeon."

RBW

Thy drummed her fingers. Carol, leaning on her door frame smiled "Deep thoughts?"

Thy nodded "Just trying to figure out how best to use all this lovely intelligence my investigators have developed on those idiots we arrested in the big raid."

Carol slid into the seat in front of Thy's desk "Damn deep then. Friend of the court briefs maybe. That way it isn't too hidden from the idiots we haven't caught with their dicks out yet. That would make them pause rather than rushing to their friends' defense."

Thy nodded "Have you noticed it's an equal number from both parties? Bi Partisan moral bankruptcy I guess."

Carol nodded "I was glad none of the ones I supported were there. Now though I have to figure out who to browbeat into running."

Thy looked up and blinked "Holy shit! I hadn't even thought that far ahead! Crap! Yes, this is an opportunity."

RBW

Kayden rolled her eyes "They are your age Theo, they don't bite. Go on."

Theo Anders visibly braced himself and marched to his doom. In this case Taylor and the rest of the Watch and the Wards. Lucy smiled and grabbed his hand dragging him along. Kayden smiled. Miss Lily took Aster "Those girls will confuse that poor boy."

Kayden nodded "I hope so." She looked at Lily and they both snickered.

Theo found himself out on a boat in the Bay. They stopped next to an orange blue ball floating in the water and the others got on mask and weird mouth pieces along with fins. Taylor asked "Scuba dive?"

Theo nodded "Dad made us learn in the Bahamas."

"This is a regulator, these two things here are IABs, infinite air bottles. Tinker tech. No need to worry about time with them but here, dive computer. Sometimes we get deep. The regulator will control the amount of both oxygen and nitrogen you get to prevent toxicity and narcosis. Then on the way up it maxes out the oxygen allowed to help outgassing the nitrogen. That dive skin is tinked too, so works like seven millimeter neoprene without the additional buoyancy. The buoyancy control device is the same, it has its own IAB that can be a reserve too, but don't put much in it at first. Smooth profile down and up is still best. OK stick with me."

Theo followed Taylor in the bay being skeptical but found the visibility acceptable on the surface and improving as they went dam deep. They were following a line that connected the ball to a wreck. A wreck that was coming up fast. Crap! He put some air in the BCD and managed to land on his feet on the deck of the wreck like he had meant to, causing a plume of silt to spring up in a ring around his knees. He looked around and found the others smiling and clapping. He rolled his eyes and then bowed. Taylor came and led him on.

Inevitably someone got cold and they started up. Theo looked at the dive computer and blinked. They were going to have to do deco stops. Oh, that was what those weighted lines they threw over were for. Duh. Wow this was the longest he had ever been down and the deepest. Taylor showed him a board with a question mark and he drew a smiley face on his and showed it to her. Lucy came and took him over and they had a conversation back and forth on the boards while Taylor sawm over to Amy.

At the end of the day he was tired but happy. It had been a good day. "Taylor and Amy are a couple."

Kayden glanced at him as she drove them home "That bothers you?"

Theo thought a moment "No. It's just not something you saw in the Empire."

Kayden nodded "They aren't like the Empire at all."

Theo nodded "So you want me to do their training for cape support folks."

"The testing and training. You might find something that interest you." Kayden nodded.

"And I won't be running Medhall anyway. The board will. OK I can see it." Theo allowed.

Kayden smiled "And Lucy will be around."

Theo snorted "I think Lucy is like me and still figuring it out. Besides I think she is a cape. Thinker. tough for capes and normal to be in relationships. What am I saying, relationships are tough period."

"Well you are ahead of your peers knowing that." Kayden changed the subject "What about Victor and Othala?"

Theo nodded "Fenja and Menja too. They would all fit in there. The Watch has a strong leader."


	33. Chapter 33

Reality Bites Worm

6.4

Sophia spent the summer being a happy, vivacious, squire to her knight. Her mother tried to get her in therapy. She was seriously concerned. The girl had always been a bit single minded. Now, however, she was a fanatic. A fanatical Templar. You know, the order the church in Rome and the French Monarchy had suppressed. A mother should worry right?

Mrs. Hess wasn't the only one whose world was off kilter. A hundred and three girls, both kidnapped and trafficked, were in therapy, exercise, testing, training, or on the little beach with the huge fence around it. Their world was wildly different than it had been as well. They weren't so much concerned as amused by Shadow Stalkers antics. It was obvious Sophia had a high order crush.

Max Anders and the capes of the Empire's days were monotonously the same as their lawyers worked like beavers. They were at least in state custody, even if it was a new tinker tech detention facility. PRT custody would have been infinitely worse. Somehow. The PRT was like the Inquisition in finding ways to torture villainous parahumans. Piggot making a passable Torquemada. Unless of course they had disavowed the Empire and were doing penance in the Militant order, The Watch.

Lung and Oni Lee were in the custody of the PRT. Somehow Oni Lee could not teleport. He just left a pile of ash up against the wall and was knocked unconscious when he tried. Lung was darted every time he started amping up. The court proceedings that related to them were relayed via video monitors, as were their lawyer's visits.

RBW

Taylor looked at the email from Accord and shrugged "I don't see why not. It's not like we are hiding. I think as far as cape abilities just tell him we have someone that can cover anything. It's pretty much true anyway."

"Danny, why has the Watch acquired five coal 'hardrock' mines?" She asked as Skitter.

Susan laughed "I got this one Danny. Coal is cheaper than diesel fuel. Anthracite is the best coal, for most purposes, and it is usually mined in deep hardrock mines. Which are a dying industry. I put robots in place of the workers, well, Sherrel and I. 'Soft' coal does have a lot of other minerals, chemicals and elements bound up in it and those are useful. They strip mine it though and nearly give it away."

Taylor frowned "Duh? Oh fuck me, Trainwreck did you get that thing running? And I suppose it's really some kind of coal processing plant that gives Susan the chemicals she is after, and produces steam as a byproduct from waste heat?"

Danny laughed "Hey don't be mad. They are all grey on grey digicam and have the Watch oath on them, illuminated in script. Train people are freaking out at the advent of new steam locomotives.

"They can be used to supply electricity anywhere there are rails. Those things crank out like forty four hundred kilowatts. We can grid tie them anywhere there are rails with a transformer car. The railroads had a bunch of EMD SD90MACs they were going to have to retire based on EPA regulations. They sent them and we got the first two modified and back out already. People follow them around with cameras."

"If none of the roads want them as leased traction they can be leased for power production or just grid tied and make at least their own cost and maintenance in power production."

Sherrel nodded "I got the original engines from the engines? Locomotives maybe, and we are converting them to run bunker oil and meet EPA specs.

"Modern diesel electrics are really just generators setting on top of traction motors. It doesn't really matter what spins the generator as it fits a standardized form factor.

"Then we can put the engines with generators on flatcars or Semi-trailers. They can feed from our bunker C tanks through a portal if they are ever needed. They needed complete rebuilds anyway, so we tinked them while we had them apart.

"Trainwreck is working on making one run on powdered coal. Diesel patented one in eighteen ninety two. About time we figured it out for real. Making the coal into a nano powder, without it exploding, was the trick. We did that for the turbines. We did have to add a tender. It carriers the water and the condenser too though.

"The railroad can go back to them burning oil if they want, as we got them to meet EPA specs, but they like the cheap fuel coal burners. Meanwhile we can use those engines for all kinds of things."

Taylor nodded "And a tire plant? Wait, wait, don't tell me. We had to use the carbon black in something?"

Susan laughed "Had to use that last fraction of crude oil distillation in something. That fraction was useless except as tar or a component of rubber before we tinked the refinery. After, well, it really isn't good for anything else now. And all those other components of synthetic rubber, plus all those tires from the dumps. I mean after we extracted the oil out of them by cooking them down. Of course, we then put back some modified 'oil'. Things should be good for a hundred thousand miles and they have ultra-low rolling resistance. Tough as hell too. Sherrel had to work on shock absorbers though. Damn things are like rocks. I still don't know how they got so grippy they had to be self-cleaning to get the normal asphalt out of their tread. Plus they are like allergic to water. Not sure how that happened. Anyway no more hydroplaning. Sell like hotcakes."

Taylor nodded "OK, last question. Why doesn't the refinery, paper mill, and tire plant stink? OK, that was second to last. Last is, why is Riley walking around with a Bakuda special on her back?"

Thy answered "It's a time stop device. It's the only way the courts would let her out of a polycarbonate box. Dodona has control of it and it reads Riley's physiology. If she gets too stressed or tries to take it off it goes off and sends a notice to Dodona. Mrs. Yamada OK'ed it and Riley agreed to it. People seem to like it as well. Hard to believe the courts actually managed to cut that baby in half."

"Its water, pressure, shock and everything else proof so take her with you when she isn't in training."

"We are, with the courts permission, going to rebrand her and let her start paying into a fund to help her victims plus any that are alive are going to be brought in for her to fix under you and Amy's supervision. And Parian made it into that cute hot pink back pack." Taylor looked at her open mouthed.

In the silence Susan shrugged "If you can smell something, it means something is going to waste." The conversation got a bit involved and went a bit late. Amy slept at the Hebert's that night.

RBW

Riley shook Taylors hand and her eyes widened. She turned to Amy. Amy shrugged "My girlfriend."

Riley nodded "Forever. Wow that's some quality work." She shook Amy's hand and turned to Taylor.

Taylor smiled "Yeah, you aren't the only one with tricks. Neither is my girlfriend."

Riley beamed "We can fix everybody!"

Taylor face palmed "Crap."

RBW

Emily shook her head "Well I should have expected. Best surgeon in the world. OK, so she is in the Watch now, and we already have a squad there that can give her an escort to the hospital. She works eight hour shifts fixing what she did, Physis and Skitter check her work in the afternoon. No real problem there. Meanwhile if they run across something that needs a surgical fix she does it during her shift and it is again checked. She gets paid the Medicare rates, half into a trust for her and half into a trust for her victims. The Watch brings her to Endbringer events and she is in the kiddie training program and doing limited patrolling. She also wears that time stop device and Dodona monitors it."

Miss Militia nodded "Plus she gets counseling once a week."

Emily nodded "Oh, which reminds me I was going to talk to Mrs. Yamada about Skitter, Physis, and Riley, no Watch name for her yet? Anyway, them trying to fix up some of her case fifty threes. Seeing Gully the other day reminded me."

Assault nodded "You know San Diego screwed the pooch there. Not only does the Union get great work out of her on site prep, but she is one of the better trainers. She just relates to the Wards. Now that Skitter and Physis helped her, I bet they are kicking themselves in the ass, the shallow bastards."

Everyone in the meeting, when instead of correcting Assault the Director nodded in agreement, blinked. Then Emily continued "OK we expect crime to pick up again as the Merchants arrested and sentenced are going to be getting released, at least those on light sentences." Emily brought up the next topic.

Rosalyn shook her head "Probably not. Physis and Skitter have been making everyone they touch allergic to drugs, well any tinked, or street drugs. If they get a sample of it, or run across someone with it in their system, they can make people 'allergic' to it, and they do.

"The Union has a list of those in confinement, has been vetting them, and is going to be getting money from the state for providing testing and training to the released prisoners in a halfway house arrangement. They will be wearing trackers for their entire sentence. Probation and all. Trackers that time stop and notify like Riley's. The state is paying Dodona to monitor the things and the people."

"If they work out in training, the Union will probably hire them, or at least the cream of the crop of them. The first of those buildings will be up by then. The bottom is retail, above that are apartments for the store owners, connected to the retail facilities by separate stairwells and or elevators.

"Above them are efficiency apartments that have separate stairs on the outside of the buildings.

"Then the third through fifth floors are nice two and three bedroom apartments. They have elevators and biometric entryways with one man airlocks. The inner door won't open unless a resident opens it in person. No buzzing in. It won't open with more than one person in it. I looked, they are nice places and for the same money as I am paying now. I am thinking of moving. The windows are bullet proof polycarbonate too. Nice if Shatterbird comes looking for Riley." Rosalyn informed them.

Emily nodded "Our thinkers need to go get training from the Watch thinkers. Is there anything they don't have covered? That they nest it all together in these systems of systems is hard to believe, even though we can see it happening. Purple! Useless!" Everyone chuckled.

Emily nodded "And our problem Ward is suddenly a true believer. Some consideration needs to be given to the level of risk her fervent belief in the Watch represents. As she is the only Female ward within a thousand miles we have managed to hold onto, well, I'm not sure where this goes in the end."

"On the next, somewhat related, subject, the therapists Dr. Yamada is training seem to be working out. All of our capes are functioning at a higher level. As are our PRT personnel."

Armsmaster added "The training at the Watch Tower has helped as well. One of the tenets is leaving work stuff at work while maintaining your alertness when off duty." He paused "I will admit it is difficult for a tinker, but it helps if you can do it. Their habit of writing things down in a journal helps as well."

Miss Militia smiled "So that's why you are running around in a domino mask going to museums?"

Armsmaster shrugged "Technology is iterative. Powers simply jump iterations, sometimes hundreds of iterations at a time. It's good to know what was done in the past and see where it could go."

Assault nodded "Those locomotives the Watch is doing. Those things are crazy."

Battery snorted "Everything they do looks like it's crazy until you think about it for a while."

Paul Renick nodded "UV stabilized polycarbonate. It's cheaper than glass, sequesters carbon and harmful chemicals, and is bullet resistant. It also uses products that are otherwise not usable by them from their other operations. That really seems to be the key to the Watch, nothing is wasted, even what others consider waste."

The meeting continued but was now down to mundane details. The things that kept the organization running.


	34. Chapter 34

Reality Bites Worm

6.5

Lisa looked around, checked where the other divers were, then showed Taylor her note board. 'Dragon is an AI.'

Taylor thought about that a while, hanging on the deco line, Lisa wrote another message, Taylor read it and nodded. Raccoons ranged into Canada. They could get some super coons deployed. They could find these freaking Dragon Slayers. Thy's investigators could point them better as well, probably.

AI run out of control taking over the world. Please, what the fuck. People were stupid. Fucking Asimov and those Terminator movies. Besides Dragon had triggered so even if she was an AI she was human enough for that and probably didn't have any more problems than the average triggered idiot. That Loken chick was pretty hot though. Tall too. Nearly six feet. Taylor started when Amy poked her. She looked at her grinning girlfriend and blushed a little. Amy laughed. The bubble cloud leaving her regulator in burst gave it away as much as the huge smile. It was so unfair how good Amy was at reading her.

Taylor looked around, if Amy was there, where was Riley? Oh fuck me, is that one of my metal finding crabs? Damnit. Oh well now she has it apart. What the hell is she doing? OK, so it's back together. Damn that girl is quick with those deadly little hands. Riley looked up and pointed up. Taylor would get her explanation on the surface apparently.

On the ramp of the work boat, patterned on a Higgins LCVP, built by the shops, Taylor looked at Riley. She grinned "I made it a brain crab!"

Taylor frowned and found it. She thought about it for a minute. "OK, but ask next time. That's why you have the tablet. Is the poor thing not going to get an infection?"

Riley grinned and hugged her waist "Nope. It's all good and will get better. I tripled its brain using some other crabs and made the adjustments to its DNA. Let it lay a few eggs and then you can let them spread out a bit. It will find metal and let you control fish, maybe sea mammals as well, and sense stuff in the water. Plus it will get big, maybe double its size now. Those will be good eating."

Taylor nodded "OK, we will see. You know the PRT frowns on self replicating tinker tech."

Riley shrugged "Brain bugs?" Taylor looked at her and they had a silent conversation.

Amy sighed and hugged them both "Beach. Time to warm up." She passed them huge fluffy bath sheets after they used the fresh water rinse on themselves and each other in a bit of a water war. This LCVP was set up for divers. The DWU had a couple of these slip pack things. This particular one was for the Watch. It had a towel warmer cabinet and several other amenities the rough and tough working divers slip packs didn't. A toilet for one. a heated bench seat for another. It also had a overhead cover with roll down transparent sides that could be put up and air conditioning using seawater for cooling. All of the slip packs had water makers on board, it hooked to two seacocks with a quick disconnect, washing salt off the dive equipment was important. Warm water worked best. Even for rough and tough working divers. Or so the logic went.

Theo started the boat and lifted the ramp. He loved driving the thing. The shops made them of aluminum so they weren't as heavy as the wood boats. They were also a bit longer. Their hull shape was tweaked, and with the ubiquitous tweaked Cummins engines, at four times the horsepower of the original, and water jets instead of propellers, they ran at about twenty knots flat out. Just fast enough for the girls on a ski or wakeboard. Or as intended, get around the bay without wasting a lot of time in transit. All without requiring anything extraordinary. Sherrel had suggested a gas turbine, an AGT 1500 she had worked up. Up to about two thousand horsepower but the DWU hadn't needed to race the work boats. They also handled about twice the weight of an original Papa boat and with the spaces between the frames filled with foam they were literally unsinkable. And proof against anything up to seventy six millimeter hyper velocity guns. He thought they handled great. Of course he had limited experience, the reality though was they did handle well and were amazing to the old guys that had experience with surplus LCVPs. Or the originals, in Navy grey, under fire.

Theo was getting good at boat handling too. He would be busy running girls around all day as soon as he dropped Taylor and company at the beach, while they had a chance to socialize for a while with the girls from the brothels. The new Watch squads. He had taken the training for handling the boat and was getting paid for it. The scenery wasn't bad, with the exercise and sun he had been getting, the girls weren't disappointed in the scenery either. His eyes flicked to where the girls were using the shower heads mounted in the wall that used water from the water maker and engine heat to warm a water heater. He pulled his eyes away. Yep, best job ever.

Kayden wasn't so sure. Jessica Yamada thought it was great. Theo wouldn't hurt them, they got to flirt. She was fairly sure one would do more than flirt, but that would be fine too, and it was about time for some healthy exploration. It had been bad enough that a quarter to a half of these girls had triggered and managed to keep it hidden, most as tinkers. They needed an outlet away from a workbench. The thinkers among them needed time out of the planning and operations cell. Cool, dark, intensely busy, fairly high stress, was fine, in reasonable doses. Then they needed sun, exercise, and age appropriate play. Theo was just the ticket. Plus he needed the same. Win, win!

Then there was Sophia who Taylor really needed to break down and fuck. Or Amy, or Amy and Taylor. It was hard to tell. Maybe Vicky and Heidi. If they didn't Missy was going to box her up, again. Lisa was having all kinds of fun stirring that pot.

Of course, Lisa didn't realize Lucy and Amanda were lining her up to get the same kind of treatment, form Eric Pelham. Rachel rolled her eyes a lot. Taylor and Amy hadn't even gotten that far themselves yet. Everyone was thinking faster than they were doing. Puberty, what could you do? They should all just fuck. It wasn't that complicated.

RBW

Summer idled along at ten thousand RPMs hovering three feet off the ground, like summers do when you are teenagers. The Patrols were picking up some weird people now. Want to be villains compared to the Empire and ABB.

Of course the Watch patrols, even for the Watch girls in training, were a bit hard. It was tough to patrol with a crowd of adoring fans following along at what they felt like was a safe distance. If they figured out it was the senior Watch, Taylor had snorted at that, senior Watch, she was still in her middle teens for heavens sake! Anyway, if the crowds figured it out it was more of a meet and greet than patrol. Still she got a chance to exercise the swarms and figure out how the new super coons were going to hunt. Rachel got a chance to do the same with the dogs. Amy healed all comers with Dodona documenting remotely. They had a set of phones and a medical administrator on every shift in Dodona for that purpose. That and in case someone was injured, the medical administrator ran the Medevac. A deadly serious group of individuals who went in hot and took any Watch or Spartan casualties out against any opposition. They did not do less than lethal weapons. People generally gave the very fit, heavily armed, people in the aviator shades with the Watch digicam crosses on their arms and vehicles a wide berth, unless they were injured or ill.

Jessica and Nessa Biermann, Fenja and Menja, showed up one day with Victor and Othala. Jessica and Nessa became members of the Watch, while Victor and Othala became members of the Spartans, as they were a married couple. Victor was already an engineer, so dove in with Sherrel's ever growing group. Othala was a natural fit in the clinic. Fenja and Menja were a challenge for Parian. She enjoyed it. All of them were watched closely and had had a talk with Taylor and Rachel, while bugs covered them and dinosaurs snarled at them.

Gully was in the Watch and Fenja and Menja were awed by the gigantic, eight feet tall, heavily muscled, now very pretty, well-proportioned girl and stuck close to her. Taylor was happy not to add to her fan base, as she called it. Taylor could be dense like that. Gully was nearly as big a fan as Sophia.

Taylor acquired the house behind her dads and it became the girl's house. She, Lisa, Riley, Heidi and Gully lived there permanently. Sophia stayed there most of the time when she wasn't on duty. The house was pretty much full of girls all the time. It was close enough Danny let them. Literally a hundred and fifty feet away. Some people had mansions with the kids in a wing farther away than that.

The girls spent a few hours each day working on the house with all their friends, and half the Union trades instructors, who were overjoyed to see the girls working on something that used their skills from training. It got a total rebuild and remodel being stripped to the studs inside and then having every system in it redone and made as strong, safe, and efficient as possible. Tinked to high heaven of course. You could doss the house in aviation gasoline, light it on fire, and maybe mar the paint. The tinkers were working on the paint. Susan found its failure to survive an inferno offensive. All of which was noted and costed by the thinkers for inclusion in a package that could be sold to homeowners.

The Watch tinkers worked differently to most. They made the machines that made the things. That way when something needed maintenance it was where the tinkers could get at it. Not out in someone's house. Except Susan of course. Once her thing went off that was the tinker part. Then it did whatever it did. She could paint a room any color or pattern in seconds now. Even glow in the dark stars. And hers glowed so much they needed another thing to turn them down.

It was the first house to get a trigeneration coal fired Watch plant. Taking it and Danny's house off the grid. It actually had the ability to take the whole block off the grid and the neighbors would only have to pay for part of the coal and maintenance. Danny was negotiating with them. Once they had them all they would lay the infrastructure underground. Susan would have another source of the things she used. If that took off she would be set. The coal mining industry as well. Well the anthracite coal mining industry. Soft coal was already set. She turned that into, anything you could imagine really. Almost like oil.

The back yards were joined, hence the hundred and fifty feet, Gully joined the basements. Danny called the joined basements the laboratory, because Taylor, Riley and Amy were forever perverting nature down there. It was full of polycarbonate tanks and plants under grow lights. Thy walked through the basement and girls house once a day just to keep up with what they were up too. Having an adult face seen kept it to a dull roar as well. In a state where anyone could visit as well. Thy was a bit of a demon on housekeeping.

With the house being a giant slumber party most of the time, and parents being in and out constantly, it left the girls with mornings as their time. Taylor woke one morning to Amy latched on a lactating breast. She smiled and giggled a little. No wonder she ate like a horse. She rolled Amy off and returned the favor making her lactate and latching on, emptying first one breast and then the other. Amy awoke in an orgasm with Taylor shaking next to her and it feeding back and forth between them.

Vicky arrived for the run and exercise and immediately knew something happened. The couple weren't talking though. Blushing like fools every time they looked at each other, but not talking.

RBW

This idle was interrupted by Faultline texting the location of the Dragon Slayers to a burner Taylor kept. Taylor chuckled and sent instructions to one of Marks teams for them to drop a couple of super coons in Quebec near a warehouse and leave a line of brain bugs back to Brocton Bay's outskirts.

"So, we are going to move on these guys." Taylor finished the briefing in the back yards of the houses.

Thy nodded "OK, they are a mercenary group, and are using those suits for all kinds of things. Mostly illegal. They are wanted for war crimes in the Balkans. The reward is good."

Danny nodded "We can disguise it as a team building camping trip for you to integrate the new girls. Mark can have some of his trail you. One of the Medevac teams will follow along of course."

Lisa nodded "Even after, Dragon can't know, until we check out what they have done to her. We might have to take over their function on the remote chance they are correct. They aren't, but I can't believe them finding this guy's notes is all that drives them."

Kayden snorted "Teacher. This guy is a tinker zero because of him. You know that's why Teacher is in the bird cage. He corrupts people's minds."

Danny shrugged "OK, next weekend. We will set it up this week."

Carol nodded "We will plan an overnight trip for the Spartans for the next weekend for cover. We can go to Maine. The coast is beautiful this time of year. That will put you in overnight strike range of this location. Part of the Watch can go to Maine camping, or all of it, and then your strike team can move out at night. Make the transit to the area of operations. Do this idiot and his friends in the wee hours, probably no one will be the wiser. If nothing else it will keep the likelihood of civilians being in the objective area down. Once you get the bugs and coons in you will be able to do pattern analysis on them."

RBW

Taylor leaned back and looked out the windshield. She smiled and shook her head. They were running up the railroad tracks and would hop off at the first level crossing. The rail lines schedules had been absurdly easy to hack and they had gotten into a gap between trains.

A five hour gap. That was bit amazing as the railroads here moved most of the freight on the continent. Between the US and Canada though the crossings were, lax? And every state with a border had at least one. Mexico, different story. California had one and Texas had the other and they were both heavily defended, with PRT, Protectorate, the military, and used tinker tech scanners and thinker security. Between those points, and from them to the two hundred mile limit, the border made the iron curtain look like a garden fence. If you were a homo sapiens you wenrt crossing it. It was hazardous for anything else.

They were running lights off, and fast. Sherrel's audio device killed all sound. Or one of them per truck did. One of L33ts snitches was deployed at each crossing, the US and the Canadian, to make sure it was clear. The border guards were a little too dependent on electronic monitoring, which they were to light weight and too rubber tired to trip.

She was in range of the super coons and had been for an hour. The rails took them sort of the long way around to get over the St Lawrence seaway. It was one thirty in the morning. They would be back in Maine before sunrise barring anything unfortunate.

When they left the railroad tracks at the last level crossing before the objective they deployed the swarm and followed it at about twenty-five miles an hour. One person was awake at the target, that wouldn't last long.

"Target in sight." They were using their network rather than their normal communications. Lisa and she had been putting up data on a separate tactical control master node computer in that network, one Lisa and her group had isolated from the normal network. Their whole network for this operation, and any other they wanted to keep clandestine, was hand built, to include the operating system, and software, by Watch tinkers. A one of a kind custom system. It used randomly generated hundred and twenty eight bit encryption, frequency hopping, and burst transmission. All the nodes had to be set by hand from the master node. It wasn't as good as Dragon tech but it was close. It was worlds better than business or commercial applications, as it didn't have any of the crap lines of code left in it. Everything had a purpose. It had been gone through by all the tinkers, with them trying to find a way in as well as trying to make it fail. No backwards compatibility either.

"Knockouts in. Standby." Taylor waited as the bugs found all the Dragon Slayers. Saint was in one of the suits, but had a glove off working on something. Silly boy. Humans, no matter how paranoid, were reliable in their fallibility over time.

"In five. Epi bugs in." Taylor waited until the epi bugs reported all nine people in the building were unconscious. "OK, entry team."

Sherrel led her group to the door and drilled it. She put in a probe and looked around the door carefully, then reached a manipulator up and fixed the door sensor. She withdrew the manipulator and Susan nodded and set of the breaching charge. It went off with an odd soundless, but pressure causing, explosion. At least on their side of the door, and the door bounced open. Heidi caught it, having held a hand on it for a the time Sherrel was drilling it and fixing the sensor. Vicky swept down the hall, checked the barracks, and then the leadership all went to the lab. The others started stripping the building. Amy made sure all the Dragon Slayers were unconscious and Sherrel figured out how to get Saint out of the suit as the rest started stripping the building into a moving van pulled by a Mack B series tractor in charcoal grey primer. Sherrel hadn't had time to apply the coatings yet. It was fully functional though. In this case as a swarm, ammo, prisoner, and cargo carrier. The primer also seemed to suck in light. It was like a truck shaped hole in your perception.

They were back in the trucks in an hour, dodging, apparently undisturbed, police patrols, as they headed for the level crossing and got the trucks on the tracks with their funky little guide wheels. The Dragon Slayers were all nude in Polycarbonate boxes. The girls threw blankets over them and hooked up an air line to each box.

When they crossed the US border again Taylor looked at the command group in her truck and Rachel snorted "That was easy."

Lisa nodded "As long as Gully has the cells ready we will be good."

Taylor nodded "This railroad thing is the bomb. Thy looked at the cells, she said they were good. 'A little austere' was how she put it."

Heidi sighed "Trainwreck is a useful creeper. That railroad affectation of his is actually handy for something besides distracting him from looking at my ass." Missy laughed and got the others started.

Marks guys, in the B series and two watch trucks, split off at a switch and headed south with no signals exchanged, exactly according to plan and on timeline. They were still good, and safe between trains. They could ride the rails all the way to the cells. Or nearly. The last few hundred yards would be on surface streets and then in the underground. The girls went north and east. They caught up with the rest of the girls in a campground deep in the woods in Maine. They got out of their full Watch dress and into casual clothes and domino mask.


	35. Chapter 35

Reality Bites Worm

6.6

By that afternoon they were in Bar Harbor, eating lobster rolls, being tourist. Thrilling the other tourist. The Watch had come to town! Like they weren't already in some of the most scenic parts of America.

The Watch mounted a patrol with the local law enforcement and a couple of independent capes. More of a meet and greet than a real patrol. It really couldn't be anything else. The bugs and supercoons were out and about, the flying Capes put the air patrol up when they weren't rotating onto the ground for pictures and autographs. In other words a complete circus.

The Capes, both female teenagers, got invitations to train, and some Watch protective gear. They also got a checkup by Panacea. They got a tailored training program they could complete at home as well. Rachel worked with the Local Law enforcements working dog partners.

They had an overnight here and then were stopping by the Prison store on the way home tomorrow. Meanwhile it was lobster rolls, soft serve and selling hoodies, giving away the cute baby ones. The moms gave them money for them anyway, most of them, or bought a hoody themselves or for their older kids. They were a smash hit.

Riley made a brain, metal finding, lobster of course. She taught it what a lobster trap was too. Rachel was very proud of her. Neither of them said anything about it to the others. How she had gotten a ten pound rock lobster the lobstermen weren't saying. Neither was Panacea who had spent an hour with her hands in a tank full of lobsters investigating telomerase. Skitter could work with them easy. Better than crabs even.

RBW

Taylor's burner rang that evening "We cracked the computers. It's worse than we thought, but there were only nine Dragon Slayers. You got them all. The University is working on the code in their computer science department. In the blind of course. Our Thinkers and Tinkers have it on their tablets. They don't know either, well, besides the ones you have with you."

Taylor sighed and pulled Amy close "We will deal with it Monday Dad."

"Sure, have fun, be safe. Saw you on TV. Move out early." Danny said.

Taylor nodded "Got it. Night dad. Night Thy."

"Bad stepdaughter! Goodnight Amy!" was yelled in the background.

Taylor shook her head, hung up and smiled. "Thy says goodnight. Thy's power is worse than Lisa's. She is supermom nosy." Amy pushed her down in the bed.

RBW

The fog was still covering the water when the girls ran in the morning, it burned off as they showered and then ate breakfast in the hotel dining room overlooking the water. They packed it up and got in the trucks. Not before they had managed to draw a crowd. They spent a half an hour signing autographs before they headed home. By way of the Prison store of course. With a stop in Portland as it was only a three hour drive home. Taylor was a little baffled by the smiles she and Amy got from young women. Amy was not amused. By the smiles or the winks Taylor got. What the hell was she? Chopped liver? She would chop some liver. Where was Riley? Lisa hustled her along the street after Taylor. "Hey! No becoming the pate pair. Leave the lesbians alone."

"And fucking Taylor is completely clueless!"

"Aren't you glad? Take it as a compliment." Lisa smirked at Amy's growing smile.

They did the responsible thing and reported their route and stops to the State Police. They were mobbed in Portland. It was actually kind of fun. It had been a great long weekend too. The Watch trucks were great RV's with a camper kind of slip pack in them. Not like they lacked horsepower to haul any amount of stuff. Plus the transmissions had gears the drivers hadn't found yet. They had only spent the one night in a hotel. They hadn't needed to, but it was nice too.

RBW

Danny meanwhile was looking over the plans and progress with Arthur and some others. "Well the wrecks are getting fed into the furnaces and refineries at about a thousand tons a day, we are saving at least as much salvage equipment every day. Now, with wrecks from out in the ocean as the bay is clear. Trash dumps too. That refinery thing the tinkers built can and does take anything.

"The Bay bottom survey is done and we can raise those deeper wrecks soon. The dry docks are cleaned out and repaired as needed. The dock yards area cleaned up and made useable again. The floating hulks are all surveyed and any that can be salvaged will be dry docked for tinking. So now we are continuing to remove and process the silt from the bay and change it back to the natural shape. The foundation of the outer wall is proceeding. So, do we go ahead and raise the wall or leave it for later?"

Arthur shrugged "In your own time I think. It's in the plan and approved and we have the financing from the government. It will give us some spectacular dockage and control for storm surge and so reduce flooding. Plus the two, or really three, if we want them runways. I wouldn't have believed an aircraft elevator three hundred fifty feet on a side capable of lifting a million and a half pounds but I don't think the simulation is lying. With two of them at the ends of the landside runways, the tugs providing electrical power and traction for the aircraft once they are landed is the only sticking point and, well, we have Athena and Trainwreck so I don't suspect it will be a problem for long. So, the wall itself will actually be fifteen hundred feet thick in the area of the airport and a thousand feet everywhere else. It will stand a hundred and twenty five feet above mean high tide and the top twenty five feet will be rolled outward to reflect waves back. The airport will be inside the wall with the elevators moving aircraft after they are connected to tugs. On the bay side of the wall the structure will be of this clear crystal in the port, air and sea, facilities area. The train tracks and road tunnels through the wall are planned. Along with utility tunnels and pipelines. I said in your own time, but there are limits, those specified in the proposal and for the funding. Even with just two of the forming machines running I don't see you having any trouble meeting those targets."

"The only real concern is the rotating gate on the channel, but with it being ballast controlled that worked out much easier than we thought. Of course it will be slow and it is a bit of a choke point as the tunnels have to pass under it, but with the shape of the bedrock in the bay even that isn't that bad."

Henry Vancleeve shook his head "The hold up now is not overrunning the capacity at the refinery. We could turn the machines up to a hundred percent but then we would fill the storage in a month. I think the things make crude out of the organic material as they sift it out. The refinery is running at max capacity as it is. The chemical plant as well. Consequently, the plastics production is running at maximum capacity. We are shipping to the west coast now."

Danny drummed his fingers on the table. "That problem will solve itself as the foundations for the sea wall progress and get the tankage built into them. We can turn the machines up as we get tanks certified. We need to think about packaging a recovery device, a couple of cleanup devices, a refinery, and a chemical plant. There are old oil fields in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. We could probably even get EPA superfund money for it. We know we could sell the products, electricity, and heat."

Kurt frowned "I think we would need to establish Watch Towers and Locals of the DWU, then put in refineries and control prices from here." Carol and Thy both took notes.

Mark Dallon offered "The government is looking to get rid of some old military facilities. Most of them are super fund sites. The recovery and cleanup devices pull ground water and all and suck everything out of the ground. At least all the chemicals. That's why they are producing so much more than we thought they would. All of that stuff goes into a kind of crude. Our gasoline and diesel production is low though. Our bunker C production is higher than average and we are getting a type of heavy oil high in sulfur and nitrogen. Good for us and the environment, as we have uses for both, along with ways to extract them from crude, but we will never compete with the light sweet oil producers and refiners for gasoline and diesel production."

Susan shrugged "For our vehicles it doesn't matter. In fact, we are selling those modifications that don't require a tinker to do them, or licensing them rather, generally we can double fuel economy. For the ones that require a tinker we get an exponential rise."

Trainwreck nodded "Working on our own design from the ground up. Lighter, stronger, more efficient, fewer moving parts, less emissions. A trigeneration plant. Electricity, heat, cooling. Hook it up with quick disconnects at your house or apartment building and it feeds the grid. Your cost from your home and car are balanced and you only pay for what you use. And bunker oil to run it of course. We are the only ones that can make bunker fuel engines meet EPA requirements. That balances out as you can download, or will have to download, your by products containers, we pay for those byproducts. We really don't want too many of those around though because you only get a gallon or two of bunker per barrel after our refinery gets through with it, about the same for normal refineries. So normal people burning gasoline and diesel is fine as you get about twenty gallons of gasoline and eleven gallons of diesel per barrel. Four gallons of Jet fuel which we are storing for when the airport opens so we can move it to tanks for the airport and sell it there."

So we are doing twenty thousand barrels a day, eight hundred forty thousand gallons, four hundred thousand gallons of gasoline, two hundred twenty thousand gallons of diesel, eighty thousand gallons of jet fuel, twenty to thirty thousand gallons of bunker oil depending on the feed stock and the rest is stuff Susan comes up with uses for. Lube oils, paraffin wax, coke, all kinds of stuff. A hundred odd thousand gallons.

Danny blinked "We sell that much gas? No we don't?"

Kathryn Walsh from accounting laughed "We could sell twice that if we made it. That only supply's fifty or sixty gas stations with gasoline, diesel, and lube oils."

Susan nodded "Hence the biodiesel, we get glycerin, which we need for other things, out of it and dispose of used cooking oil for a small fee to the people who produce it, and waste alcohol. Wood alcohol in this case that we get from our tar and paper operations. We blend it with the diesel we produce and sell it on. Some chemicals to prevent it gelling in cold weather, that don't really have another use until they are burned. It pays for itself and more, we make money on both ends.

"The alcohol goes in the gas as a oxygenator as well, ten percent. Better for the environment, especially in the winter, and for us a waste product. It's like Ford knew something when he designed his engine to run on alcohol. Everyone running them on gasoline Rockefeller was pouring in streams was just people being cheap. Of course John D was never one to let a penny go, so he charges less than alcohol cost back in the day and bingo. A perverted product line to enrich a lamp oil baron. Everyone thinks cars are supposed to burn the oil industries waste product.

"Rudolph at least suggested diesel instead of peanut oil as the cheaper alternative waste product."

Thy nodded "Plus we get money from the government as a green fuel supplier, a tax break but money is money in the end."

Danny nodded "So Taylor makes a penny a gallon on everything every time we handle it, and we handle it three times."

Kathryn laughed "Much more than that as we have a base price but charge just under market. Figure she banks a hundred thousand dollars a day after taxes. Of course, her trust fund managers plow it right back into something that will make money, in a nice balanced portfolio, so that makes her money work too. You don't have to worry about her being poor, ever, Danny. By the time she is twenty-six and her trust dissolves she will be one of the, if not the, richest woman on the planet. Meanwhile the Union members and the LLC employees aren't going to be anything resembling poor. Even the laborers."

Danny worked on a scratch pad and paled "The Mayor and Governor will send body guards for her."

Carol laughed "The President too maybe. She does like to spend money on social causes. For some reason that just seems to reap some kind of reward, or will in the out years. She has the Midas touch."

Danny groaned "Damnit, now I have to figure out how to fight them off. Taylor will be pissed if they stop her from doing her thing, or try too."

Neil smiled slyly "Amy will drop them where they stand. All she has to do is grab Taylors hand and be within a kilometer of them. Then of course there is little sister Bonesaw. Rachel. Susan over there already cooking up ways to send city hall, the state capitol, and DC into orbit. Purity, who is not a fan of politicians and they don't fail to be intimidated like fishing boat captains and Harbor Masters. Various and sundry other A class parahumans to go along with the three S class threats in the Watch.

"So we aren't going to build the airport then? I mean Taylor owns the ground and is paying for the airport so she will own it. You know her management company will find a way to earn a buck per passenger and ton of freight it handles after taxes, and it be cheaper to operate than any other port in America. Even though it employs thousands and they all make good wages."

Danny glared at him "We are her management company."

Carol grinned "Well, getting permission for those gun turrets and hiring the guys to work them plus building the fire control and ammunition should take some of the profit out."

Danny sighed "We found the turrets and bought them for scrap price. The guns were 'demilled'. They were just taken apart and you had to find someone who knew how to put them back together. It's amazing what the Navy throws away, usually selling all the parts to the same scrap yard. Once we had one complete set, the shops could copy any part. Out of better materials that aren't a hundred year old technology.

"Dragon and Armsmaster are working on fire control, and this battleship sailors association is sending us gunners mates and fire controlmen. Somehow they got the last commander of the Missouri to lead the operation. Some of those guys are ninety years old! Physis, Bonesaw, and Skitter are going to have to work on them for a week, each!"

The group chuckled and Thy nodded and wrote a note "Rebrand Bonesaw." she spoke as she wrote.

Sarah Pelham grinned "Iaso."

Mark Hausen snorted "What do you bet she made a combat brain lobster that can eat Leviathan?"

Carol frowned "Surely Amy wouldn't let her near the lobster?" The betting picked up pace immediately. Somebody drew up a pool box and the boxes filled immediately. Some of them were pretty funny. Where would Riley get a scorpion after all? Besides only those Indian ones had a chance of killing an adult. Though, scaled up and never stopping growing or going infertile? Maybe that was actually scary rather than funny.

RBW

Carol and Thy walked down the hallway in the subterranean levels of the railyard to the row of cells that had been built in down on the bedrock. They stopped in front of Saints cell. "You can't just hold me here, us here."

Thy shrugged and rattled off a string of Mandarin. Saint paled. Carol shrugged "Sorry, consider it an extraordinary rendition. Now, Number Two wants to know everything you know about Dragon and how to shut it down."

Saint perked up "And what will that gain me?"

Thy glared and in Mandarin replied, "Your life fool. If you have no powers, then your release."

Carol watched the clues Thy gave with arm position and facial expression and 'translated'.

Saint never really hesitated, convinced he was in the hands of the CUI, and this was the only way he had to keep a check on Dragon.

RBW

At the end of three days, and with passwords to the Dragon Slayers computers, the thinkers pouring over them already releasing low level restrictions from Dragon, they moved the prisoners to the police station and turned them over to the cops. Saint screamed at them incoherently in rage. Skitter waved cutely at him. Then flipped him the bird.

They did put in a good word for Mags who functioned as the team medic and avoided the crap the rest got up to. They even highlighted the evidence that backed up her claims in the computers and on the recorded video. Oh yeah, Saint had kept video of all their missions and a rambling personal video log that was really easy to modify to make him appear completely insane. In the cloud, competing with selfies and home sex videos of naked celebrity teenagers for space.

Lisa and her crew hadn't held back at all in making him into Satan rather than Saint. Twenty million dollars total reward split between the girls wasn't bad though. They shared with everyone in the Watch, Spartans, and DWU, that had helped.


	36. Chapter 36

RBW

Chapter 7.0

Dragon came in the girl's dorm "So you know."

Lisa rolled her eyes "Duh. Now, how do you want your body to look?"

Dragon gave the impression of being gob smacked "What?"

Taylor frowned "You fucked up deprogramming her Lisa, we will have to go to the backup copy."

"What?" Dragon was confused.

Kayden, chuckled "Stop girls. Dragon, a biokinetic and two biotinkers, one of them a surgeon. The neural link that lets Taylor and Lisa connect to the computers and didn't fry their brains, we think." Lisa and Taylor stuck out their tongues at her very maturely "Surely it has occurred to you that the next step in their mad plan is to make you a body?"

"But how? I don't want somebody killed!" Dragon nearly shouted.

"To the lab!" Amy called out.

"Yeath Mithtreth!" Taylor walked away with her back hunched, dragging one leg.

Dragon's head moved around "What?"

Riley came over and grabbed her hand and drug her off, rolling her eyes.

Sherrel looked at Kayden "Are we sure about this?"

Heidi snorted "Oh fuck no, but it's bound to be entertaining."

RBW

Later, in another building, in a sterile room, Taylor shrugged "We may have to call Parian in for the boobs. We got all the right stuff in there, but it's not right somehow. Not that they aren't pretty boobs."

Dragon huffed "Because you made me a body out of fish guts and pig bones!"

Rachel shrugged "The cats will love you?"

"What? Is that supposed to be a joke?" Dragon was a little freaked. Sure, she had been working on a body that was a human form factor, and they had used that for the look and measurements, but this was just weird. Amy stood with one hand in a bucket of, well, offal from the cannery and slaughter house, and one hand on a thing that turned into a human body with Taylor and Riley working on it. Every sensor she had said it was a human body, and it was alive. It was a complete perversion of nature. It was pretty though.

Sherrel came back in with a Saint suit "OK. Let's get her dressed."

"What?" Dragon blinked.

Vicky sighed "She's doing it again. We may need Mom or Sarah. I think we broke Dragon."

Amanda chuckled "I'll call them, but I think we need Dr. Yamada."

RBW

Dragon gave Lisa a 'look' "OK, so you got that down. Next step-"

Dragon huffed "Don't you have to go to school?"

"Oh nice! We'll have you up to twenty plus, single, professional woman, snark in no time."

"Or on patrol or something, and I am serious by the way."

Lisa pouted "Oh."

Dragon sighed and Lisa grinned. Taylor shook her head when the two ran past her. She sighed "We do have school starting in a week."

Amy nodded "We like school though."

Taylor nodded thoughtfully "Who is going to watch Riley?"

'Missy and Dinah." Amy supplied.

Taylor looked at her "You are doing this run thing much better."

Amy smiled brightly "I know, right!"

Vicky spoke up from a pace back "So Flechete and Parian."

Taylor snickered "Maybe we should run faster."

Vicky grinned "Bring it, we already shut Stalker up."

Sophia nodded "Yeah, what the fuck! Why are we running world record pace here?"

Taylor blinked "I hadn't realized."

Sophia glared at her "You are so tuning me up once I am out of school, and not running on the, or a, team anymore."

"Hey!" Taylor protested.

"Plus, you are tutoring me in math. That stuff you do is like Rain Man shit! Then your girlfriend can give me to you for a birthday. Once we all figure it all out."

Crystal laughed "So never then. We are girls. We don't even know what we want individually. Much less as a couple."

Taylor laughed helplessly. How did they go from Sophia corrupting Emma's mind to being, well this! So weird. Or was it Emma that became dependent on a person who had issues of her own and was searching for answers? Rather than standing up on her own. Was that it? Was it bound to happen, her and Emma parting ways? Taylor continued running while thinking it over. The other girls looked at her, just dug in, and let her be.

RBW

Later, on the beach, after diving, Theo, not having a follow-on mission yet, was alone with the girls in training as the Watch had a mission brief. He watched as a trawler had a casualty. He could see something was wrong but the crew had had the hundred fifty-foot vessel up to full speed trying to get out to get their second net wet.

Theo grew more and more concerned. He noticed his boat was out of the way, but the girls would be trapped on this small beach with a potential catastrophe. Right in the ninety degree bend in the channel to the cannery. Of course. His luck! He was desperately trying to figure out what to do here and ran toward his boat. He put his hand on a rock and tried to think. He could hear his father telling him how worthless he was. This trawler was going to hole its hull on the rocks he had to avoid on the way to the beach every time. It would dump fuel oil, if they were a bit unlucky there would be a fire that would crawl up on the beach with the girls. He was always unlucky. The girls had been sex slaves. Not much luck there either. No! Damnit what was he going to do! He was supposed to be looking after the girls. Why didn't the trawler drop anchor! ARRRRGGGGH! "NO!"

Theo had to sit down. He was dizzy, and nauseous, and what the hell was that? Why did he see stars? What the hell were those worms and why were they in space?

Angelina, A homeless girl Theos age, who had been taken and put in a brothel, went to her knees beside him. Everything went quiet and still. The roaring of a diesel cut off and the silence was eerie. She recovered quicker than he did "Thank you Theo that could have been a disaster! You rest. People are coming from the yard."

Theo looked at her "Trawler?" He was a little dizzy, a lot dizzy. Oh, crap, he was going to "Buuuiiick!"

Angelina rolled him on his side in time and patted his back. More girls recovered, charged in, and they got him up and away from the mess. Someone brought a water bottle.

Lester, the DWU harbormaster, walked off the ramp of the boat one of the other operator's skillfully full throttle reverse stopped as he lowered the ramp right at the beach beside Theos boat, it looked like something out of a Navy propaganda piece. Lester walked up to Theo. "Well you're in good hands Anders. Like that Trawler. What, are you making an advertisement for those people on DWU time?"

Theo looked at him blearily "What?"

Lester shook his head and tapped his earpiece "Mark, Lester. I need Physis, Skitter, or that new one, Iaso was it? Anders. What? Like I don't know that. He's alright. You got to see what he did though. OK, let me get off this call and talk to some of the guys in salvage. We're going to need that crane barge, oh and a tug or two. Shut it down idiot! No not you Mark, listen I got to go, these guys are idiots." Lester walked off waving and yelling at the trawler crew. "Why the hell are you trying to start it up? Where is the cooling water going to come from? You are fifteen feet int he air at least. Maybe twenty. To the keel! Fucking morons. I swear to god!"

RBW

Taylor snickered as Amy swam through a sea of former hookers to Theo. A heaving sea even, as they all tried to get in touching distance. Of course, from the state of the trawler that was entirely dependent on exactly how high an orbit you were in. Fucking Christ those were big fucking granite hands holding that boat up. The crew looks pretty stunned too. Apparently, they got it shut down though. They need to pay more attention to hull maintenance as well. They could probably get another five knots out of the thing if they cleaned the bottom. She looked back at Theo and laughed. Angelina was defending her turf. Oops better step in. She really shouldn't keep Amy from touching Theo. "Angelina, let Amy check Theo." Taylor chuckled at the pout she got from the girl. Angelina grudgingly gave just enough room for Amy to lay a hand on Theo's bare arm. While she watched like a hawk. Girl apparently had a death wish.

Amy put her hand on Theo's arm and nodded "He is fine. The nausea will pass in a few minutes." Amy swam back out of the pile and walked over to Taylor "So, good thing we cured those girls of everything and got them all their ovaries turned off." Taylor nodded and smothered her laughter.

RBW

Purity looked at the trawler captain, he shielded his eyes and stepped back "The crane will get your stupid boat down. You will get the DWU to check it and certify it before you take it out again or I will sink it."

"I'm losing money!" The Captain bawled. Purity tapped her foot and fisted her hips. The effect slightly lost because of the sand muting the tap tap tapping. The Captain had been married for years though. He knew that pose. "Fine."

Purity sniffed and turned toward Theo who was on his boat, which was loaded with every girl who had been on the beach, most of them trying to see how small they could actually make their bikinis. She rolled her eyes. The girls were obviously going to be ridiculous, as a group, over this. Poor Theo. She gave her best glare at the girls and her lumen count jumped. They looked calmly back at her. Purity sighed. Well Amy had turned off their ovaries. Obviously we had the bit between our teeth though.


	37. Chapter 37

Reality Bites Worm

7.1

Taylor woke in the morning with Amy on top of her. She smiled and rolled them over. Amy woke up, opened her mouth and moaned as Taylor latched on a breast. The door opened, Rachel came in and sat in the armchair in Taylors room, the master bedroom of the girl's house. Amy turned her head "Rachel?"

"Yes?"

"Uh, we are a bit busy here Rachel."

"Yeah, I see. Hey, which one of you is going to have the penis first? You should do one with a knot. My bitches seem to like that. It rubs them in the right places." Rachel advised seriously. Amy blinked at the 'penis', Rachel's education was really taking off. A little while ago that certainly would have been 'dick'.

Vicky came in "Do normal first, you can save the experimentation for when the thrill is gone." She sat on the sofa, Lisa joined her.

"Oh, good idea!" Lisa nodded grinning.

"Taylor the room is full of people. Taylor! Oh gawd. Taylor!" Amy thrashed under Taylor. Taylor looked up and grinned around her mouthful.

Riley walked in "Oh good! Yay! I thought I was going to have to stick you two together to get a niece. Hmmm, I can make one the perfect size for either of you. Really, it's the girth anyway. We can make like a pocket, and put some testicles right by the ovaries. Prostates are so kludgy though. The man was having an off day with that one. There has to be a better way to give semen an alkali bath. Damn things give everyone that lives long enough cancer. And the treatments for it are brutal. Better than they were but still. We will work on that. Well girth and the angle. We'll put the root on the pubic arch. Give an anchor for some serious leverage. Maybe make vaginas neutral instead of slightly acidic? Hmmm, this will require some thought."

"Out! Out! Get out!" Amy shouted.

Rachel shook her head and got up "Hurry up and do Taylor Amy. Exercise." The girls trooped out and Taylor covered her and Amy's mouth with her hands. Amy rolled them over.

Amy gave her a glare and drove her thigh into her "No one is getting pregnant until we are at least twenty-five. Riley is going to have to get a niece out of Sherrel."

Taylor moaned and nodded. Right this instant she didn't care where the niece came from. Later she couldn't stop smiling about Amy seeing them with kids at twenty five. Amy rolled her eyes a lot. This was what you got for loving crazy bug ladies. Not that she said the L word out loud. It was still to early for that.

RBW

Dragon fretted, looking at herself in Parians full length mirror. The girls were exhausted. Dragon was jamming thirty years of body issues into the three days she had actually had a body. Riley rolled her eyes, took a photo, and posted it to a website. She cut the head off quite intentionally and everyone was mad until Dragon blushed and smiled when the comments came in. Then she hunted it down across the internet like a hungry lioness on a gazelle.

The girls all laughed about it. Then lectured Riley, who rolled her eyes, like only a just teen can. It got the group moving again. That was all she cared about. Plus it might get her a niece. Phhttt, Dredd. Hmmm she could work on him. Although Asperger's, she would have to study a bit. She had never had one of those to play with before. And, the girls would freak out if she experimented. Amy was a great sister, she had like a sixth sense and knew when the fun was about to start. Next thing you know it was the next day. Taylor just looked like she didn't know what was going on. One of those giant bugs would show up and they were too quick for even her to catch before they stung you. She saw everything within five miles of her all the time. How was that fair?

RBW

Laying on the beach later after a dive Taylor looked around "OK, since we addressed Riley's inappropriate posting, no matter how helpful it was. Dragon needs a name, a cape name for the Watch and a whole backstory created. Or are we going to trust the agoraphobia thing?"

"Carolyn Richter, its already my backed up civilian ID, and the agoraphobia thing has fifteen years of history. Five of that before I got my first suit working."

Lisa nodded. "So, Demeter, I think." Dragon arched an eyebrow. Lisa shrugged "The Law, and Hershey isn't a Greek goddess. No matter you are all stupid in love with Dredd."

Carolyn blushed and swung a gentle slap at her as the others laughed. Taylor nodded "Training tomorrow, can you do all that at one time? Run your body and all your other stuff?"

"And the uterus runs itself. Let's get Armsmaster over here!" Riley exclaimed excitedly.

Missy pushed her down on the sand "I'm telling Yamada you have a pregnant fetish."

Kate chuckled. Riley eyed her. She spluttered. "You keep your eyes to yourself, and your thoughts off my uterus Miss!" Riley pouted. What the hell was wrong with all these firmly hetero women? Taylor and Amy, well they were still in school. It was early for them. Though their systems were running at peak efficiency and they could easily handle it physically.

Theo drove up to the beach with another load of girls. Who very slowly, and under the watchful eyes of Angelina, walked down the ramp. Calculating their chances of that blowing up. Theo looked a bit lost. Angelina watched them all off, and when the ramp came up lay back down on her beach towel on the cushion by the cockpit. After rolling over. Time to show Theo why he was happy the others were gone. He could put the boat in idle and oil her again in the middle of the bay. They were a bit ahead of schedule. His schedule for work. They were exactly on her schedule. Good thing this oil was tinked up from raw stocks at the chemical plant. Made it cheap. No he didn't need to know you only needed one application a day.

Riley got a calculating look watching that interesting development race out into the bay. Missy sighed and handed her a orange creamsicle from the tinked cooler. The thing would freeze seawater.

Some distraction was needed for Riley, diving maybe. She could find some new fish she hadn't seen before and make it better. Produce more protein and good oils. Reject mercury. Stuff like that. Maybe they could find one of these lion fish that were supposedly coming up the gulf stream and she could do something to them to make them not crowd out native species. Hey wait a minute, "Riley, how would you make a native species out compete a lion fish?" She grinned as Riley got a far away look. Job done.

RBW

Taylor watched the map in her HUD scroll, they were doing a patrol in the country near Brockton Bay, mounted. It was different. It was also now in the afternoon of a beautiful day in the summer and they were stopping at farms and villages.

Sherrel was looking over the vehicles on the farms and for the villages, fixing what she could. She had a full eleven woman squad of tinkers with her and a truck that was a maintenance vehicle. She was also making notes for parts to be looked for in the scrap they were processing. "They are so overbuilt! They scream to be tinked!" Sherrel waxed nearly lyrical about farm machinery, her squad acted as her chorus. Tractor pulls in the North East were in for a rude awakening to tinking. That Case two hundred really shouldn't sound like a F15 on afterburner should it? And where did Sherrel get that blower, how did they make a manifold for it in the field?

Taylor and the others were talking to the people. There had been rumors of odd things going on out here and they wanted to check.

Skitter was leaning on a fence looking at her HUD as she moved swarms and one of the farmers leaned on a top board next to her "Krenshaw place. Been fallow five years or more. No one can figure out the trail of ownership. Krenshaw lost it to one bank, must be twenty years ago, back when things turned bad. That bank had sold the note to another. That one had sold the note to some speculators. Krenshaw, he kept farming it until one of them made him move off. Plus, he was tired. He moved off to his sons place in Boston. The boys a policeman up there. Damn shame. Good farmer. He had a girl who got sick. She is buried in the Methodist Church yard in the village. Medical bills wiped him out. He never got ahead again. Him and the family, they come by most holidays. To the village. Got grandkids who are grown now. They don't come out here, can't stand to see it I reckon. Hurts too much I reckon. Place had been in his family since the pilgrims. Tried to lease it myself. Can't find who to talk to about it. That tractor your girls just turned into a F105 is his. Left all his machinery with the neighbors to keep the banks and speculators from getting it."

Skitter looked at him "You aren't telling me this to make conversation Mr. Roberts."

Cleo Roberts nodded "I'm getting old. Kids are gone to California. Or ruination as the wife calls it. Neighbor on the other side is old too. Your methods, well, they work and made the work easier. Better. Something. Lots of these places out here like this. Your Athena, she got that combine running in seven minutes. Thing hasn't run in nine years. Tattletale took one look at the place and knew why I wasn't planting in those spots." He pointed to green grassy spots in the fields "Wet, springs. She drew me a plan to hook them together and irrigate with the water. Not that we need to. Took her about a minute. It would have helped a couple years though, potatoes and beans are thirsty, winter wheat not so much. Physis shook my hand and my back doesn't hurt. Iaso took the missus in the bedroom and she came out singing. And Dancing! We're Baptist. I didn't know she could dance. You young ladies can do good out here, and then, when we are gone, the land will still be here. It will still need somebody."

Taylor nodded "We are growing still. To do what we want to do we need places we can grow food. Meanwhile we are happy to help people. How about we fix up you and the people you recommend and you all train up some people for us to run these places. I got some money, bounties, dirty money from crooks. Running it through the land might clean it up."

"I heard you were good girls." Cleo patted her on the shoulder gently with a giant hand, hardened to rock by sixty years of manual labor. They stood for a few more minutes. Amy came up and snuggled into Skitters side. Cleo smiled, tipped his hat and headed over to the group standing around the soil samples Susan had taken and was working on. She had an idea for a project.

RBW

"Skitter?"

"Yeah Dodona I see it. All the traffic is going to the cow barn on the Williams place. They live with their son in Jersey now. Dianna can you give a super coon a lift?"

"This is Artemis, I got one almost there."

"OK, everybody slow down and pull over. Wait, let me pick some spots to prestage. We are going to knock these guys down no matter what."

"Skitter, Tattletale, I got it. You work the swarm."

"Skitter Hecate, I'm on the ground with a pack. Give me five minutes and we will have the place cordoned off."

Taylor nodded "This smells. Dianna look around outside. Say five miles out." She got some brain bugs up and then blinked "Iaso, why is there a super coon flying wing on Dianna?"

"Isn't it cool! Whole different animal too. I have to make a boy one. It's like the wings of a flying fox and the musculature, but I had to put in a whole series of modifications. Not to mention the genes. I got them from that flying fox they brought for you to master. The super coons already have all the brain and body work so I used Sally to make the flying test model." Riley was bouncing in her seat.

Vicky came up on the net "She can fly too, damn. It's nice to have somebody up here."

Taylor pinched the bridge of her nose. "OK fine. Just craziness to add to the list."

Dianna came back up "Contact, Intersection of route forty-three and Harmony Creek road. Sitting, lights out but motors running."

"Skitter, Demeter. Tentative ID is Bastard Son. Legend is enroute."

Lisa nodded "That's just him and his inner circle. Most of his organization is in that barn."

"OK, fine, Fuck him. Bastard not Lycurgus. Athena work me a solution on both locations. HE to knock the barn down then PRT foam on both. Maybe shake and bake the cars too. I want to see Sally. How is it she doesn't make me dizzy but birds do?"

Athena nodded and worked for a minute "Cool, OK we got enough HE to do the barn and I can foam the back of the cars then HE the front of them for mobility kills. It's going to be loud though. Low probability we kill a few."

Demeter came back up at the same time as Lisa "The PRT and Protectorate are monitoring."

"So is Dodona. Give them a minute to run it through channels." Lisa added.

The door to Skitters truck opened and Paul climbed in looking cross-eyed at the bug on his nose "Always with the bugs? OK so what have we got? Oh, hold on, my HUD is catching up."

Taylor sent the kill bug back to the top of the monitor and gave Paul a glare and a hug. "Arthur is going to kill me for keeping you out late. You have Keith now. We can handle this."

Paul nodded "No doubt. I want this guy though. Wow you girls have had a big day. This idea of collecting the land and helping the farmers is great. Might have to shoot a few bankers and speculators. Not before they need it really."

Taylor nodded "OK, Dianna, Artemis clear CEP in a spiral pattern. I have Sally doing the same. Let's get everyone but the bad guys clear."

Athena laughed "Circular error probability on my guns is zero Skitter. We will do the stupid procedure though as we are using HE. Even though Rhea and her people worked the ammo."

Paul got a key board for the screen he was using on the left of the truck. He asked aloud "Rhea? Susan then. Nice. I see what you did there. Physics so Rhea." He worked a few minutes more and Alexandria's voice came up in the net.

"We are sure?" She asked.

"Alexandria, Demeter, it's a high confidence prediction."

"I so have to get in on this. OK, Rebecca is onboard and Commander Sanchez is right there so let's do this." Alexandria replied.

Taylor nodded, she didn't even wonder how Alexandria just appeared out of nowhere anymore. When you got Lycurgus, Paul, Legend, you got Alexandria. Eidolon was still running around being fucking Batman or whatever it was he was doing. "Watch, Watch Six, fire mission."

Athena nodded in her truck "Shot over."

"Shot out. Bia move yours to the cars. Hecate stand by." Skitter responded

Athena sent "Splash over. Rounds complete."

"Splash out. Dodona round count."

"All good Skitter, no duds, and all in the CEP."

"Skitter, Hecate. It worked perfect. The HE took the barn down and we got airburst on the first foam rounds. It's a barn shaped block of foam here."

"Skitter Bia. The cars trunks are foamed closed as are the passenger doors and the engines won't be running long. The radiators are shredded."

"Thank you ladies. Now let's help the PRT dig these out. As soon as you have skin exposed call me and we will knock them out as usual. Everybody stay alert. Something about this still isn't right."

Skitter spun her chair and looked at Paul who was beaming "Not so fast Mr., Bastard uses people's powers or something. Arthur would kill me if you got hurt. Unpowered PRT people are doing his questioning."

Alexandria put in "Concur. Even if we have to go to extraordinary means it will be the PRT or maybe CIA doing it."

Lisa joined the conversation "The Elite are starting to get their feet under them from the financial losses. This will help keep them off balance and is a big blow to their operations. They aren't out of the picture yet though. Just forting up like Coil."

Alexandria nodded "Speaking of which it's time we dig him out."

Lisa nodded "At least start the planning. He is in trouble down there. Those accidents we have had with cement trucks plugging all his bolt holes and Skitters bugs carrying off or eating his self-destruct, have him where we want him, but we don't want him coming out of there unplanned."

Taylor shrugged "We will help of course, but I still think we should just let him starve down there."

AN: OK I have to go back and read this to make sure of something so a pause before I write more.


End file.
